No abstract

Selenium (Se), which has antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral properties, is an essential micronutrient for humans and animals. This micronutrient is found in high quantity in legumes. Peas have an ever-increasing importance in Spain, and to increase their nutritional value, two foliar Se fertilizers: sodium selenate and sodium selenite, at five different rates: 0, 10, 20, 40, 80 g ha(-1), were studied during the 2010/2011 crop season on semiarid Mediterranean conditions. Sodium selenate was much more effectively taken up by plants compared to sodium selenite. There was a strong linear relationship between the total Se content and Se rate in both sodium selenate and selenite. For each gram of Se fertilization as either sodium selenate or sodium selenite, the increase of total Se concentration in the grain was 148 and 19 μg Se kg(-1) dry weight, respectively. Ingestion of 100 g of peas previously fertilized with 10 g of sodium selenate per hectare would result in an intake of 179 μg of Se. This is almost 90 % of the daily recommended dose needed to reduce the chance of some cancers and about 179 % of the minimum concentration required to prevent Se deficiency diseases in animals. The pea has shown to have a strong ability to uptake and accumulate Se under Mediterranean conditions; therefore, this would make it a very strong candidate for inclusion in biofortification programs aiming to increase Se in the food chain.

No abstract

Se-enriched chickpeas would be a good candidate for inclusion in biofortification programs under semiarid Mediterranean conditions and for promotion as a 'functional food'.

Fungal endophytes can be part of the defensive system of plants against multiple pathogens by competing for resources, hyperparasitism or producing bioactive compounds with antimicrobial properties. There is an ever‐increasing interest for obtaining new and environmentally friendly products to use in the fight against pathogens. With this purpose, Byssochlamys spectabilis (anamorph Paecilomyces variotii), which is a fungal species that commonly occurs, was evaluated as an antagonistic organism towards three phytopathogens (Biscogniauxia mediterranea, Fusarium moniliforme and Phytophthora cinnamomi). First, an in vitro experiment was designed to test the effect that the endophyte filtrate had on the three pathogens. The endophyte filtrate decreased the radius growth rate of F. moniliforme by nearly 10%. Consequently, the antagonism between B. spectabilis and F. moniliforme was evaluated in Lolium rigidum plants under greenhouse conditions by means of co‐inoculations. The endophyte produced a decrease of 50–75% in the disease severity caused by the pathogen in the earliest infection stages. Crude extracts of B. spectabilis were obtained to determine the secondary metabolites responsible for such an effect. The bioactivity‐guided chromatography and HPLC‐MS (high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) of the active fraction suggested that the antibiotic activity was caused by viriditoxin. In conclusion, the fungal endophyte B. spectabilis and/or its bioactive compounds showed antagonism towards several phytopathogens and deserves further study to investigate its actual potential for use as a biocontrol agent.