Agricultural crops can be used either to remediate selenium-contaminated soils or to increase the daily selenium intake of consumers after soil supplementation using inorganic or organic selenium sources. In this study, four agricultural crops were examined for potential selenium enhancement. Soils containing tomato, strawberry, radish, and lettuce plants were supplemented with either an inorganic or an organic form of selenium. Two different soils, i.e., low Se and high Se containing, were also used. Statistically significant differences in appearance, fruit production, and fresh weights of the fruit produced were studied. Next, the amount of selenium retained in the edible fruits, nonedible plant, and soil for each was analyzed by acid digestion followed by hydride generation atomic absorption analysis. Finally, inhibition effects on the seeds of the agricultural plants were studied. The results show that supplementation with an inorganic form of selenium led to higher retention in the plants, with a maximum of 97.5% retained in the edible portion of lettuce plants.

The use of plants and microorganisms that can naturally volatilize selenium and remove it from the soil or water has been studied with promising results. It has been shown that selenium can be removed from soils by plant uptake and accumulation, plant volatilization, and removal in the rhizosphere. Preliminary studies indicated that Hydrilla verticillata Royle removed selenium by means of phytovolatilization. Therefore, studies were conducted to examine the volatile products produced during phytoremediation of selenium by hydrilla. Samples were obtained and analyzed by GC/MS. Organoselenium compounds found were dimethyl selenide, dimethyl diselenide, and diethyl diselenide.