Selenium in rice: Impact on protein content and distribution for enhanced food and feed security in agroclimatic challenges

Abstract

Countries face exasperating and inclement climate worldwide. Food and feed security could be their paramount life objective. The study aimed to investigate the impact of selenium on the protein content and distribution in different parts of rice. For this purpose, advanced selenium biofortified breeding material developed after generations of breeding efforts was investigated at the field area, rice research institute, Chengdu, China during cropping season 2021–22. The accumulation and distribution of selenium and protein contents were observed in various fractions of selenium-enriched rice (Z3057B) and positive control (727). The correlation studies for selenium and protein quantification leads to the optimization of the breeding material and relevance in virtue. The rice fractions indicated rice embryo retains highest selenium contents, which gradually decreases in succession (other rice parts). The difference in protein content between the embryo and endosperm of Se-enriched rice is significant, while that between embryo and aleurone layer is not obvious. The selenium protein was found with molecular weight of 13.6–122.6 kDa. The protein of each molecular weight is found to bind with selenium, but the binding strength of selenium is negatively correlated with the molecular weight of protein. The 67.5% of the total selenium sticks with protein having molecular weight less than 38.8 kDa. In summary, protein with low molecular weight (13.4 kDa) binds maximum selenium and accounts for highest total protein content (40.76%).