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Effects of Amount and Chemical Form of Selenium Amendments on Forage Selenium Concentrations and Species Profiles

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Abstract

Selenium (Se) agronomic biofortification of plants is effective for alleviating Se deficiencies in human and livestock populations. Less is known about how higher selenate amendment rates, or how foliar compared with granular selenate amendments affect forage Se concentrations. Therefore, we compared the effects of a higher sodium selenate foliar amendment rate (900 vs. 90 g Se ha−1), and two selenate amendment methods (liquid foliar sodium selenate vs. granular slow-release Selcote Ultra® at 0, 45, and 90 g Se ha−1) on Se concentrations and Se species in forages across Oregon. The 10 × amendment rate (900 g Se ha−1) resulted in 6.4 × higher forage Se concentrations in the first cut (49.19 vs. 7.61 mg Se kg−1 plant DM, respectively) compared with the 90 g ha−1 amendment rate, indicating that forages can tolerate higher selenate amendment rates. Most Se was incorporated as SeMet (75%) in the harvested portion of the forage (37 mg Se kg−1 forage DM of the first cut) and only a limited amount was stored in the selenate reserve pool in the leaves (~ 5 mg Se kg−1 forage DM). Higher application rates of selenate amendment increased forage Se concentrations in first and second cuts, but carry over in subsequent years was negligible. Application of foliar selenate vs. granular Selcote Ultra® amendments, between 0 and 90 g Se ha−1, both resulted in a linear, dose-dependent increase in forage Se concentration. Amendments differed in their Se incorporation pattern (Se%), in that, first cut forage Se concentrations were higher with foliar selenate amendment and second, third, and residual (following spring) cut forage Se concentrations were higher with granular Selcote Ultra® amendment. Given the linear relationship between forage Se concentrations and whole-blood Se concentrations in livestock consuming Se-biofortified forage, we conclude that targeted grazing or other forage feeding strategies will allow producers to adapt to either selenate-amendment form.

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Abbreviations

DM:

Dry matter

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy

MCW:

Methanol, chloroform, and water

Me-SeCys:

Selenomethyl selenocysteine

NPKS:

Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur

Se:

Selenium

SeAA:

Selenoamino acids

SeCys:

Selenocysteine

SeCys2 :

Selenocystine

SeMet:

Selenomethionine

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Scott J. Duggan, Clare S. Sullivan, Tracy M. Wilson, and Ekaterina Jeliazkova for assistance with performing the field trials and forage sample collections at the Terrebonne site. The authors also thank Dorothy Austin (Roseburg) and Rob Wittenberg (Terrebonne) for the use of their fields to conduct the trials and Hoyt Downing and Mitchell Alley for help with harvesting. We also thank the following for fertilizer donations: Douglas County Farmers Cooperative, Roseburg, OR; Helena Agri-Service, Culver, OR; Midstate Fertilizer, Redmond, OR; and Wilbur Ellis, Co. and Pratum Coop, Madras, OR.

Funding

This study is funded in part by a grant from the Agriculture Research Foundation (G.J. Pirelli, Principal Investigator), Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA, and by internal funds. The Central Oregon Hay Growers’ Association funded the harvesting costs for the Central Oregon (Terrebonne) site.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Jean A. Hall

  2. Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Gerd Bobe, Shelby J. Filley & Gene J. Pirelli

  3. Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-4802, USA

    Gerd Bobe

  4. Department of Crop and Soil Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Mylen G. Bohle

  5. Department of Plant Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Guojie Wang

  6. USDA, Agricultural Research Service-Poisonous Plant Research Lab, Logan, UT, 84341, USA

    T. Zane Davis

  7. USDA, Agricultural Research Service-San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier, CA, 93648, USA

    Gary S. Bañuelos

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  1. Jean A. Hall
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Contributions

Jean A. Hall: conceptualization, project administration, investigation, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Gerd Bobe: data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft, and visualization. Shelby J. Filley: investigation and writing—review and editing. Gene J. Pirelli: conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, and writing—review and editing. Mylen G. Bohle: investigation, funding acquisition, supervision, and writing—review and editing. Guojie Wang: investigation and writing—review and editing. T. Zane Davis: investigation, resources, and writing—review and editing. Gary S. Bañuelos: investigation, resources, validation, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Jean A. Hall.

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Hall, J.A., Bobe, G., Filley, S.J. et al. Effects of Amount and Chemical Form of Selenium Amendments on Forage Selenium Concentrations and Species Profiles. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 4951–4960 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03541-8

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