Effects of Different Levels of Selenium in the Nutrient Solution on the Growth and Nitrate Accumulation of Red French Lettuce in Soilless Culture

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• N. Lotfi
• Sh. Kiani
• H.R. Motaghian

Soil Science and Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

10.22067/jsw.2024.88287.1411

Abstract

Introduction
Selenium (Se) is one of the beneficial elements for plants, which is usually not supplied in the nutrient solutions used in soilless cultures. It is an essential element for both humans and animals. Application of Se at low concentrations has a positive effect on the growth and quality indices of plants. Nitrate accumulation in leafy vegetables poses threaten to human health. Leafy vegetables such as lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) contain high levels of nitrate. According to the results of some researches, application of Se in the nutrient solutions can decrease nitrate accumulation in vegetables. However, the optimum concentration of Se in the nutrient solution for lettuce production in hydroponic culture is still not clear. This experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of different levels of Se in the nutrient solution on the growth indices, yield, and nitrate accumulation of red French lettuce (cv. Lolla Rossa) in soilless culture.
 
Materials and Methods
A perlite culture experiment, using completely randomized design, was carried out with seven levels of Se in the nutrient solution (0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10 and 20 µmol L^-1) with four replications in the research greenhouse of Shahrekord University. Lettuce seedlings were grown in 1.7 L plastic pots (one plant per pot) containing perlite with size of 0.5-5 mm and were manually fertigated with the nutrient solutions on a daily basis. Different concentrations of Se were applied as sodium selenate (Na₂SeO₄.2H₂O) in the nutrient solution (Domingues et al., pH= 5.4±0.1, EC=1.36-1.41dS m^–1). After four weeks, lettuce plants were harvested and the fresh weights of shoots and roots were measured. Plant growth indices consisting of leaf number, leaf length, leaf width, plant height, plant diameter, leaf chlorophyll index, and leaf total soluble solids were determined. In one bush in each treatment, the leaves were separated as 1^st to 10^th outer leaves and other inner leaves. The leaves were dried in an oven at 70 °C and were ground. Nitrate concentrations in outer and inner leaves were measured calorimetrically using a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 410 nm. Shoots Se concentration was determined with ICP-MS after wet digestion of samples with HNO₃ and H₂O₂. Analysis of variance was done using SAS software and means comparison was conducted using the least significant difference test at 0.05 probability level.
 
Results and Discussion
The results indicated that application of Se in the nutrient solution had not significant effect on the lettuce growth indices including of leaf length, leaf width and leaf number. Application of 10 µmol L^-1 of Se in the nutrient solution led to significant decrease of plant height in comparison with control, but plant diameter increased with application of Se in the nutrient solution. The highest plant diameter was observed in 10 μmol L^–1 of Se treatment. The highest and the lowest shoot fresh weight were obtained under 0 and 1 μmol L^–1 of Se in the nutrient solution, respectively. Application of 1 μmol L^–1 Se increased shoots fresh weight by 22% comparing to the control. Shoot Se concentration was increased with application of Se in the nutrient solution. The highest concentration of Se in shoots (15 mg kg^-1 dry matter) was observed at the rate of 20 μmol L^–1 of Se in the nutrient solution. The amount of Se accumulated in the plant tissue is important in biofortification programs. The results showed that application of Se in the nutrient solution (with the exception of 1 µmol L^-1 of Se) led to significant decrease in the nitrate concentration of roots, outer leaves, inner leaves and all leaves of lettuce. The lowest nitrate concentration in all leaves of lettuce (2095 mg kg^-1 fresh weight) was obtained in plants nourished with 0.5 μmol L^–1 of Se in the nutrient solution. Compared with control (0 μmol L^–1 of Se), nitrate concentration in all leaves for 0.5 μmol L^–1 of Se treatment was decreased 28%. Selenium has a positive function on decreasing nitrate accumulation in plants via regulating the transport of nitrate and enhancing activities of nitrogen metabolism enzymes.
 
Conclusion
According to our results, application of Se decreased nitrate concentration in lettuce plants. Therefore, application of Se in the nutrient solution at the rate of 0.5 μmol L^–1 is suggested for red French lettuce production in hydroponic culture under the conditions of the present study.

Keywords

• Beneficial elements
• Hydroponic
• Leafy vegetables
• Methemoglobinemia

Main Subjects

• Soil science

©2024 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

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