(337) Effect of Selenium Supply by Trunk Injection on Fruit Quality of `Niitaka' Asian Pear

Abstract

<jats:p>Many trials to supply selenium to fruit have been carried out since tests have confirmed selenium's role as a medical substance. Supplying selenium in orchards by soil and foliar application was not effective because of loss from rainfall. In order to increase selenium absorption by fruit, this study carried out tree trunk injections during the growing season. Selenium solutions in concentrations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 mg·L<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup> were supplied to `Niitaka' pear (<jats:italic>Pyruspyrifolia</jats:italic>) trees by trunk injection (1.5 L/tree) four times at 15-day intervals from June 2004.</jats:p> <jats:p>The treatment with 50 mg·L<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup> selenium showed necrosis symptoms at leaf-margins after secondary treatment and toxicity as abnormally red fruit skin color. Fruit weight and leaf area were decreased by selenium treatments, while severe symptoms appeared with higher selenium concentrations. Hunter values `a' and `b' in fruit skin color were increased by selenium treatment in comparison to the control. The selenium treatment showed lower soluble solids by as much as 1.2%, and higher fruit firmness. Selenium concentration in pear fruit was increased by trunk injection with a 5 mg·L<jats:sup>–1</jats:sup> solution. The bound selenium in pear fruit after 3 months of storage in cold room conditions was very high, but free selenium was low.</jats:p>

Pomegranate trees quality under drought conditions using potassium silicate, nanosilver, and selenium spray with valorization of peels as fungicide extracts

“…These results are in the same trend with the prior results 4 , 5 , where the application of selenium increased efficiently the yield in horticultural crops. Besides, it was found that Se raised the yield in “Valencia” orange 68 , ‘Zaghlol’ date palm 90 and in ‘Starking Delicious’ apple cultivar 91 .…”