Does antioxidant capacity of leaves play a role in growth response to selenium at different sulfur nutritional status?

Abstract

There are evidences of beneficial effects of selenium (Se) on plant growth. In this work, using alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and two varieties of Brassica oleracea L. (cabbage and kohlrabi), the effect of Se addition (10 and 20µM) on growth and concentration of sulfur and Se was investigated in hydroponic experiments. In order to study the involvement of Se-mediated changes in the antioxidant capacity of plants in growth promotion by Se, the activity of antioxidant enzymes including ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR) and the concentration of H 2 O 2 and glutathione were determined. It was demonstrated that sulfur sufficient cabbage and kohlrabi plants concomitant with growth stimulation in response to Se addition expressed a progressive oxidative stress as judged by a lower activity of antioxidant enzymes and accumulation of oxidants. Results imply that the function of antioxidant system of plants could not explain either the growth stimulatory effect of Se in cabbage and kohlrabi or different response of alfalfa plants to Se supplementation.

Sodium selenite treatment of vegetable seeds and seedlings and the effect on antioxidant status

“…1 and 2) was described by other authors, such as Xu et al (2003), Hajiboland and Amjad (2007), Ramos et al (2010) and Becvort-Azcurra et al (2012) (Fig. 1).…”

Effect of Se application on photosynthesis, osmolytes and water relations in two durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) genotypes under drought stress

“…Considering plants biomass, however, a correlation has not been found between the activity of antioxidative defense enzymes and the extent to which Se influenced growth (Hajiboland and Amjad, 2007) and alleviated stress (Yao et al, 2009, Habibi, 2013. Under drought conditions, important parameters such as accumulation of osmotic substances and water uptake capacity as affected by Se are largely unstudied.…”

Selenium supplementation stimulates vegetative and reproductive growth in canola (Brassica napus L.) plants

“…Growth stimulating effect of trace amounts of Se has been frequently reported in some plant species such as ryegrass (Hartikainen et al, 2000), lettuce (Xue et al, 2001), potato (Seppänen et al, 2003) and different varieties of Brassica oleracea (Hajiboland and Amjad 2007). At proper levels it also delays some of the effects of senescence (Djanaguiraman et al, 2005).…”

“…Selenium stimulates plants growth even under non-stress conditions. A considerable growth promotion up to 59% has been reported for cabbage plants in response to Se supplementation at 20 µM (Hajiboland and Amjad 2007).…”