Agronomic biofortification of Brassica with selenium—enrichment of SeMet and its identification in Brassica seeds and meal

• Published in: Plant and soil 2010-12, Vol.337 (1-2), p.273-283
• Main Authors: Seppänen, Mervi M, Kontturi, Juha, Heras, Isabel Lopez, Madrid, Yolanda, Cámara, Carmen, Hartikainen, Helinä
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accumulation; Acid soils; Agronomy; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal feeding and feeds; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anions; Biofortification; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotransformation; Brassica napus; Brassica rapa; Ecology; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Enzymes; Experiments; Feed concentrates; Feeds; fertilization (reproduction); Field tests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Hydrolysis; Life Sciences; Liquid chromatography; Nutrients; Oil seed rape; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plants; Regular Article; Seeds; Selenium; SeMet; Soil science; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; Speciation; Turnip rape; Ultrasonics; Yeasts
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-010-0523-y

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient and is circulated to the food chain through crops. Brassica species are efficient in Se accumulation and thus, good species for Se biofortification purposes. The residual fraction obtained after oil processing of Brassica seeds, the meal, is an important protein source in animal diets and used in feed concentrates. The accumulation of soil or foliar applied Se in the seeds and meal of Brassica napus and B. rapa as well as its effects on growth and yield formation was studied in two field experiments. Also, a HPLC-ICP-MS based method for the identification and quantification of Se species in Brassica seeds and meal was developed. Selenium application did not affect the yield or oil content. High accumulation of Se in the seeds and meal (1.92-1.96 μg Se g⁻¹) was detected. Biotransformation of inorganic Se was evaluated by using HPLC-ICP-MS previous enzymatic hydrolysis for species extraction. The Se speciation studies showed that up to 85% of the total Se was SeMet whereas other Se-species were not detected. We conclude that the agronomic biofortification of Brassica species can improve the nutritive quality of the protein rich meal fraction as it contains significant amount of SeMet.