Exogenous application of selenium and nano-selenium alleviates salt stress and improves secondary metabolites in lemon verbena under salinity stress

Abstract

Salinity stress is one of the most serious abiotic factors that affects the growth, performance, and secondary compounds of medicinal plants. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of foliar application of selenium and nano-selenium separately on growth, essential oils, physiological parameters, and some secondary metabolites of Lemon verbena under salinity stress. The results showed that selenium and nano-selenium significantly increased growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, and relative water content. Compared to the control, a higher accumulation of osmolytes (i.e., proline, soluble sugars, and total protein) and higher antioxidant activity were observed in the selenium-treated plants. In addition, selenium alleviated the adversary effect of oxidative stress, resulting from salinity, by reducing leaf electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, and H2O2 accumulation. Furthermore, selenium and nano-selenium enhanced the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites such as essential oils, total phenolic content, and flavonoid compounds under non-stress and salinity conditions. They also reduced Na+ accumulation in the root and shoot of the salinity-treated plants. Hence it can be concluded that exogenous application of selenium and nano-selenium separately can mitigate the negative effects of salinity by improving the quantitative and qualitative performance of lemon verbena plants under salinity stress.

Impact of seed priming with Selenium nanoparticles on germination and seedlings growth of tomato

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Boosting Salt Tolerance in Camelina cultivars through synergistic Impact of Exogenous Silicon and Selenium by modulating physiological attributes and Antioxidant activities

“…The transport and absorption of several nutrients were enhanced by the exogenous application of Si (Raza et al 2019;Zia et al 2023). In the same setting, applying Se resulted in an amino acid metabolism imbalance; as a result, stressed plants exhibited higher levels of soluble protein and lower nitrate activity (Ahmad et al 2021;Ghanbari et al 2023). Similar to our ndings, the Se application also remained instrumental in protecting plant cells, increased the formation of starch in chloroplasts, and supported plant growth in salt-stressed environments (Regni et al 2021).…”

“…According to Regni et al (2021), the administration of Se enhanced olive plants' resistance to abiotic stress by preventing oxidative damage to cells and controlling their water status. Furthermore, it has been documented that the foliar application of selenium (Se) remained effective in boosting the concentration of chlorophyll in plants through the preservation of chloroplast enzymes and the augmentation of photosynthetic pigment production(Ghanbari et al 2023).…”

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