TY  - EJOU
AU  - Qian, Chengxu 
AU  - Chen, Qiangwen 
AU  - Jiang, Leiyu 
AU  - Yang, Xiaoyan 
AU  - Rao, Shen 
AU  - Zhang, Weiwei 
AU  - Xu, Feng 

TI  - Physiological Mechanism of Exogenous Selenium in Alleviating Mercury Stress on Pakchoi (<i>Brassica campestris</i> L.)
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2024
VL  - 93
IS  - 5
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - 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.
KW  - Selenium; mercury stress; pakchoi; physiological properties; antioxidant enzymes

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2024.050893