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Seed Soaking with Sodium Selenate as a Biofortification Approach in Bread Wheat: Effects on Germination, Seedling Emergence, Biomass and Responses to Water Deficit
- Source :
- Agronomy, Vol 12, Iss 8, p 1975 (2022)
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Selenium (Se) biofortification by seed treatments has been poorly explored in wheat due to the difficulties in establishing seed treatments without compromising plant productive traits. We investigated the effects of Se seed soaking as a pre-sowing treatment in bread wheat. Five soaking periods and six Se concentrations were assessed on germination and seedling traits and compared to unsoaked seeds. Twelve hours of soaking was found beneficial for most tested Se concentrations. Then, we evaluated the effects of untreated, 0, 2.5 and 25 mM Se in 12 h seed soaking treatments along the wheat crop cycle under water-deficit (WD) and well-watered (WW) conditions in a pot experiment. Our results evidenced that 12 h of 2.5 mM Se soaking did not affect the germination percentage, and speed-up seedling emergence resulted in a considerable Se seed uptake. These plants also displayed enhanced antioxidant capacity and vegetative biomass accumulation, especially under WD. The treatment with 25 mM of Se negatively affected aerial biomass, suggesting potential toxicity. Physiological responses of Se-treated plants remained unchanged, as well as grain traits. Altogether, we propose that 12 h soaking with 2.5 mM Se is a promissory pre-sowing approach to enrich bread wheat grain and straw, particularly under water-limited environments.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20734395
- Volume :
- 12
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Agronomy
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.1da6adbdf64841f1b121d0272ffcbc02
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081975