Abstract
UK wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has a low selenium (Se) concentration and agronomic biofortification with Se is a proposed solution. A possible limitation is that UK wheat is routinely fertilised with sulphur (S), which may affect uptake of Se by the crop. The response of wheat to Se and S fertilisation and residual effects of Se were determined in field trials over 2 consecutive years. Selenium fertilisation at 20 g ha−1 as sodium selenate increased grain Se by four to seven fold, up to 374 µg Se kg−1. Sulphur fertilisation produced contrasting effects in 2 years; in year 1 when the crop was not deficient in S, grain Se concentration was significantly enhanced by S, whereas in year 2 when crop yield responded significantly to S fertilisation, grain Se concentration was decreased significantly in the S-fertilised plots. An incubation experiment showed that addition of sulphate enhanced the recovery of selenate added to soils, probably through a suppression of selenate transformation to other unavailable forms in soils. Our results demonstrate complex interactions between S and Se involving both soil and plant physiological processes; S can enhance Se availability in soil but inhibit selenate uptake by plants. Furthermore, no residual effect of Se fertiliser applied in year 1 was found on the following crop.
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Acknowledgements
Rothamsted Research is an institute of the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This project was sponsored by Defra through the Sustainable Arable LINK Programme (LK0974 grant). We thank Colin Gray and Sarah Dunham and for their assistance collecting and analysing samples.
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Stroud, J.L., Li, H.F., Lopez-Bellido, F.J. et al. Impact of sulphur fertilisation on crop response to selenium fertilisation. Plant Soil 332, 31–40 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0230-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0230-8