Open Access

ARTICLE

Physiological Mechanism of Exogenous Selenium in Alleviating Mercury Stress on Pakchoi (Brassica campestris L.)

Chengxu Qian¹, Qiangwen Chen^1,2, Leiyu Jiang¹, Xiaoyan Yang³, Shen Rao⁴, Weiwei Zhang¹, Feng Xu^1,*

1 College of Horticulture and Gardening, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434025, China
2 Enshi Se-Run Material Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., Enshi, 445000, China
3 Henry Fok School of Biology and Agricultural, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan, 512005, China
4 National R&D for Se-Rich Agricultural Products Processing Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China

* Corresponding Author: Feng Xu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Abiotic Stress Impacts on Plant Physiology and Their Alleviation)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2024, 93(5), 951-962. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2024.050893

Received 21 February 2024; Accepted 02 April 2024; Issue published 28 May 2024

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explain the physiological mechanisms through which NaSeO mitigates the growth and developmental inhibition of pakchoi under HgCl stress. The results showed that treatment with HgCl (40 mg L) led to reduced biomass, dwarfing, root shortening, and root tip necrosis in pakchoi. Compared to control (CK), the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) in Hg treatment increased, and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) also dramatically increased, which negatively impacted the growth of pakchoi. Low concentrations of NaSeO (0.2 mg L) significantly increased the content of soluble sugars compared with control, while chlorophyll, soluble proteins, free amino acids, and vitamin C had no significant changes. The results of the mixed treatments with HgCl and NaSeO suggested that selenium may be able to reduce the toxicity of mercury in pakchoi. The biomass, plant height, root length, chlorophyll content, soluble protein, other physiological indicators, and proline showed significant increases compared with the HgCl treatment. Additionally, the MDA content and mercury accumulation in pakchoi decreased. Our results revealed the antagonistic effects of selenium and mercury in pakchoi. Thus, a theoretical basis for studying pakchoi’s mercury-excreted and selenium-rich cultivation technology was provided.

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Keywords

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