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Enhancing Food Quality and Plant Stress Tolerance through Selenium Biofortification:...
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Enhancing Food Quality and Plant Stress Tolerance through Selenium Biofortification: Strategies, Progress, and Challenges

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2024) | Viewed by 1523

Special Issue Editor

Dr. María Gabriela Guevara

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biological Research Institute, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP), Mar del Plata, Argentina
Interests: plant science; the biofortification of crops; plant proteases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Micronutrients play a crucial role in sustaining human health, and despite their requirement in minimal quantities, deficiencies impact an estimated 3 billion individuals worldwide. Selenium is noteworthy in this context. The inadequate intake of dietary selenium affects up to 1 in 7 people’s health. Prediction models anticipate that those alterations produced by climate change, specifically in the soil's organic carbon content, can result in a general decline in soil selenium concentrations, especially in agricultural regions. The biofortification of plants with selenium has been studied using various techniques, including genetic biofortification and the application of selenium fertilizers. Additionally, selenium is a beneficial element for plants that promotes their development and improves their agronomic parameters under unfavorable growth conditions.

This research topic aims to enhance our understanding of plant selenium biofortification and decrease the incidence of selenium deficiency in plants.

Authors are invited to submit original research, reviews, methods, and perspectives/opinions/hypotheses on topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The assessment of nutritional and quality parameters in crops after Se biofortification;
  • Se biofortification effects in plant development;
  • Plant tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses after Se biofortification;
  • Se biofortification strategies and techniques in plants.

Dr. María Gabriela Guevara
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • crops improvement
  • climate change
  • selenium
  • biofortification
  • foods
  • human health
  • plant abiotic stress
  • plant biotic stress

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 1921 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Nutritional and Functional Properties of Broccoli Leaves Through Selenium Biofortification: Potential for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioactive Compound Valorization
by Melina Soledad Buttarelli, Gabriel Céccoli, Betiana Soledad Trod, María Micaela Stoffel, Marianela Simonutti, Carlos Alberto Bouzo, Valeria Rosana Turowski, Adrián Alejandro Perez, Mercè Llugany, María-Jesús Sánchez-Martín, Lucas Damián Daurelio, María Gabriela Guevara and Fernando Felipe Muñoz
Agronomy 2025, 15(2), 389; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15020389 - 31 Jan 2025
Viewed by 332
Abstract
Selenium (Se) biofortification is a promising agronomic strategy to enhance the dietary intake of this essential micronutrient while simultaneously adding value to agricultural by-products like Brassica oleracea L. var. italica leaves. This study evaluated the effects of foliar Se biofortification on a fresh [...] Read more.
Selenium (Se) biofortification is a promising agronomic strategy to enhance the dietary intake of this essential micronutrient while simultaneously adding value to agricultural by-products like Brassica oleracea L. var. italica leaves. This study evaluated the effects of foliar Se biofortification on a fresh market broccoli cultivar (‘Belstar’) using selenite and selenate (1 and 2 mM). Growth performance, biochemical properties, nutraceutical quality, and phytohormone profiles of broccoli leaves were analyzed, highlighting their potential as functional by-products. Multivariate analysis revealed that 2 mM selenite application was the most effective treatment, significantly improving several parameters. Selenium biofortification with 2 mM selenite increased essential nutrient content, including Se, Ca, S, Fe, Mn, Mg, and Mo. It also enhanced the soluble protein content (+2.2-fold), phenolic compounds (+1.5-fold), and total antioxidant capacity (+1.4-fold) compared to control plants. In this sense, the nutraceutical quality of broccoli leaves was markedly improved, supporting their use as a source of bioactive ingredients. Additionally, to assess practical applications, water-extracted Se-enriched broccoli leaves demonstrated antifungal activity against the plant pathogen Fusarium solani, attributed to Se-induced alterations in phytohormone profiles. These findings suggest that Se-biofortified broccoli leaves can serve as a sustainable source of essential nutrients and bioactive compounds for the food industry. Furthermore, their antifungal properties position them as potential eco-friendly biopesticides to combat plant pathogenic fungi, thereby promoting sustainable agriculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Food Quality and Plant Stress Tolerance through Selenium Biofortification: Strategies, Progress, and Challenges)
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18 pages, 18479 KiB  
Article
Application of 2-Iminoselenazolidin-4-Ones (ISeA) for Beta vulgaris L. and Brassica rapa L. Plants Se-Biofortification
by Natalia A. Semenova, Elena A. Nikulina, Nina V. Tsirulnikova, Maria M. Godyaeva, Nadezhda I. Uyutova, Ilya V. Baimler, Aleksander V. Simakin, Eugenia V. Stepanova and Sergey V. Gudkov
Agronomy 2024, 14(7), 1407; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071407 - 28 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 756
Abstract
Due to widespread selenium deficiency in food the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new Se(II)-containing organic chemical compound 2-iminoselenazolidin-4-ones (ISeA) in the form of a nanoscale associate (1–5 nm) solution for Swiss chard and komatsuna plants biofortification. [...] Read more.
Due to widespread selenium deficiency in food the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new Se(II)-containing organic chemical compound 2-iminoselenazolidin-4-ones (ISeA) in the form of a nanoscale associate (1–5 nm) solution for Swiss chard and komatsuna plants biofortification. Application of the chosen substance as a foliar treatment (2 mg·L−1) and as an additive to a hydroponic nutrient solution (10 mg·L−1) was performed. Both cultures had a high level of Se absorption, distribution and accumulation in leaves two or more times greater than in petioles. Se content in chard petioles (15 mg·L−1) when applying ISeA as a component of the nutrient solution exceeded the accumulation of Se during foliar treatment (9.6 mg·L−1) and the same trend in the komatsuna leaves was observed. When applying ISeA to the nutrient solution, an increase in komatsuna and chard biomass was seen at 36 and 68% and for leaf treatment by 21 and 45%, respectively. For komatsuna and chard an increase in the ratio of dry to fresh weight was also observed to be 27 and 26%, and for foliar treatment—0 and 16%, respectively. Treatments led to increase in chard plants height (7–17%), enlargement of leaves (19–42%), a rise in photosynthetic pigments (20–60%) and anthocyanin (2.9 and 2.2 times) concentration, and for komatsuna—the multiplication of leaves number (28%) and their surface area (27–29%) as well as a rise in the concentration of anthocyanin (1.0 and 1.6 times) with foliar treatment and nutrient solution enrichment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Food Quality and Plant Stress Tolerance through Selenium Biofortification: Strategies, Progress, and Challenges)
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