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Article

Effects of Selenium Fertilizer Application on Yield and Selenium Accumulation Characteristics of Different Japonica Rice Varieties

by
Juan Yan
1,2,†,
Xiaoju Chen
1,†,
Tonggui Zhu
2,
Zhongping Zhang
1 and
Jianbo Fan
3,*
1
School of Chemistry & Material Engineering, Chaohu University, Hefei 238000, China
2
Anhui Guangming Huaixiang Industry & Trade Group Co., Ltd., Hefei 238000, China
3
Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10284; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810284
Submission received: 30 July 2021 / Revised: 9 September 2021 / Accepted: 10 September 2021 / Published: 15 September 2021
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Abstract

:
In this study, three japonica rice varieties—Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29—were supplied with different levels of nano-foliar selenium fertilizers (0, 40 and 80 kg Se ha−1) under field conditions. Their rice yield and absorption, accumulation, transportation and utilization of selenium were studied to find suitable selenium-rich rice cultivars and optimal selenium supply levels, while providing references for the development of selenium-rich rice. On an average basis, the Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 yielded 8755 ± 190, 8200 ± 317 and 9098 ± 72.7 kg ha−1, respectively. The selenium content in polished rice of the three rice varieties is between 0.210 and 0.933 mg kg−1. When 40 g Se ha−1 nano-selenium fertilizer was used, the selenium accumulation in the shoots of Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 was, respectively, 11.4 g Se ha−1, 12.3 g Se ha−1 and 12.2 g Se ha−1, and when 80 g Se ha−1 selenium fertilizer was applied, the total selenium accumulation of three rice varieties was, respectively, 2.45, 1.75 and 2.40 times that of 40 g Se ha−1 selenium fertilizer. No evident diversity was observed in the selenium transport coefficient and the apparent utilization rate of selenium among the three varieties. The three rice varieties in this experiment had a strong selenium enrichment capacity, and they could be planted as selenium-enriched and high-yield rice varieties. Further, the amount of selenium fertilizer should not exceed 40 g Se ha−1.

1. Introduction

Selenium is a vital trace element in the human body, which can improve human immunity and prevent some cancers and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases [1,2,3]. If the human body contains severely deficient selenium, Keshan disease or even cancer could be caused [2,4]. There are about 500 million to 1 billion people with selenium deficiency worldwide, and 20% of them are in China [2]. According to the report of the nutrition survey by the Chinese Nutrition Society, the intake of Se of Chinese adults was only 26.6 μg per day [5]. This is far from the world Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 50 to 55 μg per day for adults [6]. What is more, in some selenium-deficient areas, it is even less than 10 ug per day [7].
As a staple food crop, rice provides the daily carbohydrates for at least 3 billion people in at least 33 countries worldwide [8]. Rice is also among the main food crops in China. It is reported that more than 80% of selenium in the grain is organic selenium (SeMet and SeCys) [9,10], which was found to be more bioavailable than selenate and selenite in that it was more effective in raising blood Se concentrations (suggesting better absorption and retention). However, all forms were able to increase selenoenzyme (glutathione peroxidase) activity [11].
The amount of selenium contained in the rice determines the selenium nutritional status of the majority of the population in China [12]. There is evidence [13] that compared with low-selenium soils, rice grown on high-selenium soils grains can accumulate more selenium. There are also research studies showing that the grains produced from natural selenium-rich soils (soil selenium content 0.5–1.0 mg kg−1) can meet people’s daily demand for selenium (60–80 ug d−1) [14]. However, about 72% of the soil in China contains deficient selenium, and the selenium content of the plants growing on it is shallow [15]. Too-low selenium is included in most rice, meaning that people’s per-day selenium needs are not met [5,6,7].
Moreover, Se is not only essential for humans but also animals and poultry [16,17]. It was found that the level of 0.25 mg kg−1 diet of organic Se was adequate to enrich eggs [17]. Se-enriched animal products grown by Se-enriched rice or other foods would improve the consumer health benefit [11,18]. Se-enriched crops grown by Se agronomic biofortification strategies are considered to be a good way for increasing Se intake for people in selenium-deficiency areas [19,20,21]. For example, in Finland, as a typical selenium-poor country, the content of selenium in various foods and humans increased significantly after applying selenium fertilizer to soil [21].
Studies have shown that rice has the strong ability to enrich selenium [22,23], and the selenium fertilizer applied will lead to a significant rise in the selenium content of rice [14,20,24,25]. There are two types of selenium fertilizers applied to rice: soil application and foliar spraying [7,25,26]. Studies have compared the effects of the two types of selenium fertilizers on rice, and indicated that soil application of selenite fertilizer makes it difficult for rice to absorb and utilize selenium, because of the absorption and fixation of soil minerals, or owing to the fact that, after being absorbed by the rice, selenium accumulates in plant nutrient tissues instead of edible parts. Due to its low bioavailability [27,28], 80–95% of selenium fertilizer in the form of dilute acid salt will be lost with irrigation or rain. Studies have shown that spraying selenium fertilizer on the surface of rice can promote the rice to contain much more selenium [7,25]. Although its effect is significant, it has a high cost and long-term application or excessive application, which causes environmental pollution later [22,29].
Plant absorption and selenium accumulation are closely related to the chemical forms of selenium fertilizer and rice varieties. The chemical structures of selenium fertilizers include selenate, selenite, organic selenium and nano-selenium [22,30]. Many documents have studied the absorption and accumulation of selenium by selenium, selenite or organic selenium rice [1,22,30]. Studies also show the rice’s genotypic differences in the absorption and accumulation of selenium and its distribution in different organs [12,22,29,31]. However, only a few studies mention the collection of selenium in rice after applying nano-selenium fertilizer. At present, the comparison of selenium-rich characteristics of different rice varieties mainly focuses on the comparison between selenium-rich rice and no selenium-rich rice [31,32]. Such comparisons of the same type of rice have been relatively rare, such as different japonica rice varieties.
Although rice has the solid ability to accumulate selenium, some studies have shown that low concentrations of exogenous selenium can promote plant growth [33], plant growth is inhibited by excessive selenium concentration [1,24]. Selenium also generates a dual effect on human health. When selenium intake in the human body is too high, poisoning will occur [2,34]. China stipulates that the selenium content standard of selenium-enriched rice is 0.04 to 0.3 mg kg−1 according to the standard GB/T22499-2008 [35]. Many studies [8,14,36,37] indicate that rice grains will contain more selenium as the selenium fertilizer application increases. For producing safe selenium-rich rice, the amount of selenium fertilizer is significant. At the same time, people also hope to find suitable rice varieties with strong selenium-rich ability and produce safe selenium-rich rice at a lower selenium supply level.
Rice is among the essential food crops worldwide. The selenium content in rice is of great significance for the human body. In this study, three common japonica rice varieties are compared to study their selenium accumulation capacity and the effects of rice on the absorption, transportation and utilization of selenium under different selenium supply (nano-selenium), to find suitable rice varieties and appropriate selenium supply levels, while reducing rice production costs and reducing environmental pollution, therefore providing references for the development of selenium-rich rice.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Experimental Site Characteristics

Chaohu Lake is located at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River system, which has a drainage area of 12,938 square kilometres. The catchment area covers two cities and five counties, i.e., Hefei, Chaohu, Feidong, Feixi, Lujiang, Shucheng County, Wuwei County. The irrigated area reaches more than 2600 square kilometres. The average annual temperature of Chaohu Lake is 16.0 °C, and the average annual rainfall is 1046 mm. The experiment was carried out in Zhaohe Farm, Ba Town, Chaohu City (117°87′ E, 31°95′ N), Anhui Province in 2018. The test soil in the field plot experiment was paddy soil which has the physical and chemical properties as below: pH = 5.5, organic matter 18.4 g kg−1, total nitrogen 1.02 g kg−1, alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen 107.30 mg kg−1, available phosphorus 7.64 mg kg−1, available potassium 69.10 mg kg−1. The total selenium in the test soil is 0.21 mg kg−1, categorized as low selenium content in China [38].

2.2. Field Experiment

The tested rice varieties were Nanjing 9108 (V1), Jiahua 1 (V2) and Wuyunjing 29 (V3). The selenium fertilizer used in the experiment was foliar fertilizer with the main components: nano-elemental selenium and compound stabilizer. Developed by Chaohu University and contained 15 g kg−1 of selenium.
Many levels of selenium fertilizer were studied to produce Se-rich rice [10,20,37], and the concentrations of foliar fertilizers ranging between 25 and 100 g Se ha−1 did not surpass the threshold of toxicity [10]. Therefore, there was a division of the treatment into three groups: 0 g Se ha−1 (L0), 40 g Se ha−1 (L1), and 80 g Se ha−1 (L2) in this study. In all treatments, selenium fertilizer was sprayed once at the heading stage. There was a total of 9 treatments. Each treatment was performed three repeated times before random blocks were arranged. There was a total of 27 plots, with an area of 42 m2 each. Planted rice on-demand with row spacing of 15 cm × 25 cm, 6–7 germinated seeds per hole. Selenium fertilizer was diluted in 2.5 L water and sprayed on the leaf surface according to the treatment amount. According to local customs, rice was grown on demand. Due to the shortage of experimental funds, the experiment was carried out for only one year.

2.3. Sampling and Analysis

After the rice matured, a harvest of three m2 at the centre of every plot was performed in the experiment for measuring the yield of rice and rice straw, and 2 kg of rice and rice straw of every take action. After air-drying, their dry weights were measured to determine the moisture content. Further, the sample was retained to estimate the selenium content.
The amount of selenium contained in plant samples was determined as per GB 5009.93-2010 [35]. That is, 9 + 1 HNO3 + HClO4 (V + V) mixed acid was used for digestion at 170 °C with an electric heating plate. There was a measurement of how much selenium the solution contained by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry per the standard GB 5009.93-2010 [39].

2.4. Data Analysis

The harvest index, selenium harvest index, selenium transport coefficient and apparent utilization rate of rice were calculated by the equation as follows:
The harvest index = the dry weight of rice grain/the dry weight of aboveground plant;
The selenium harvest index = the full range of selenium in the rice grain/the total content of selenium in the aboveground plant;
The selenium transport coefficient = the selenium concentration in rice grain/the selenium concentration in rice straw;
The apparent utilization rate of selenium (%) = (the selenium accumulation in the selenium-applying plots—the selenium accumulation in the selenium-free actions)/selenium application ×100.

2.5. Statistical Analysis

We used Microsoft Excel 2016 and Spss16.0 software (Spss Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for statistical analysis of all data. Multiple comparisons of means were performed with the Tukey–Kramer’s honestly significant difference test at a 0.05 probability level. The statistical model adopted included sources of variations: rice varieties, selenium stores, and their interactions. Significance levels are shown by ns, *, and ** for not significant, significant at p < 0.05, and p < 0.01, respectively. Numbers followed by different letters in the same column (Between combinations) differ significantly at the 5% level by LSD tests. Figures were drawn using Microsoft Excel 2016.

3. Results

3.1. Yield and Composition Factors

In 2018, for rice, there was a lot of sunshine during the grain filling period, and the rice grains filled well. Most rice yields per hectare were above 8000 kg, and a few reached 9000 kg. Among the three varieties, on an average basis, Jiahua 1 yielded 8200 ± 317 kg ha−1 in the three treatments, followed by Nanjing 9108 with a work of 8755 ± 190 kg ha−1, and the highest of the three was Wuyunjing 29, reaching 9098 ± 72.7 kg ha−1. However, as observed, no significant yield differences were found between the three varieties.
Figure 1 shows that with the increase in the amount of selenium fertilizer, the yield of Jiahua 1 increased first and then no change, while Nanjing 9108 and Wuyunjing 29 hardly changed. The data showed the slightly varied effect of selenium fertilizer application on rice depending on the variety, but not significant.
In addition to the seed setting rate, the yield components of the three varieties of rice were very different (Table 1). The average plant height of Jiahua 1 was only 80.0 cm, which was significantly lower than that of Nanjing 9108 and Wuyunjing 29. Its panicle length was also shorter, with an average of only 13.0 cm, compared to 14.3 cm and 15.3 cm for Nanjing 9108 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively. On an average basis, Jiahua 1 had a total grain number per panicle significantly lower than Nanjing 9018 and Wuyunjing 29, decreasing by 19.9% and 25.4%, respectively. However, the average adequate panicle number of Jiahua 1 was significantly higher than that of Nanjing 9018 and Wuyunjing 29, i.e., 17.5% and 35.9% higher, respectively. As observed, no significant differences were found in thousand-grain weight between Nanjing 9108 and Jiahua 1. Wuyunjing 29 had the most considerable thousand-grain weight, at least 4 g higher than the former two.
Most yield factors were not significantly affected by applying selenium fertilizer, except for a few yield factors. For example, after applying selenium fertilizer, the total number of grains per panicle of Nanjing 9108 significantly increased. After applying selenium fertilizer 40 g Se ha−1 in Jiahua 1, its ear length and total grain number increased, and its effective ear number decreased. When 80 g Se ha−1 of selenium fertilizer was applied, we observed no significant differences from the control in terms of panicle length, total grain number, and adequate panicle number. Upon the selenium fertilizer applied, the total grain number per panicle of Wuyunjing 29 declined. This shows that the application of selenium fertilizer had different levels of adequacy amongst varieties.
The selenium fertilizer had different effects on the yield factors of various rice varieties, at no significant levels. The high yield of Nanjing 9108 benefited from the increase in the full number of grains per panicle after applying selenium fertilizer. The higher panicle length and total grain number of Jiahua 1 led to a high yield of Jiahua 1 upon application of 40 g of Se ha−1 of selenium fertilizer. The selenium fertilizer slightly reduced the total grains and the work of Wuyunjing 29.

3.2. Selenium Content in Paddy Rice, Brown Rice and Polished Rice

In Figure 2, we observed that, regardless of the variety, the selenium content of paddy rice, brown rice and polished rice increased significantly as the selenium fertilizer amount rose; still, the increase was different between varieties.
In addition to the control, the brown rice in Nanjing 9108 contained significantly higher selenium than paddy rice, while the paddy rice contained significantly higher selenium than polished rice. The application of selenium fertilizer promoted the polished rice to contain significantly increased selenium. When the applied selenium fertilizer increased to 80 g Se ha−1 from 40 g Se ha−1, the selenium contained in the polished rice increased to 0.933 mg kg−1 from 0.431 mg kg−1. Like Nanjing 9108, the selenium fertilizer was applied extensively and promoted the selenium content to rise in Jiahua 1 paddy rice, polished rice and brown rice. The difference was that for Jiahua 1, in addition to the control, the paddy rice contained higher selenium than brown rice, and the brown rice contained higher selenium than polished rice, indicating that the chaff and rice bran had a lot of selenium. When the selenium fertilizer application rate was 40 g Se ha−1, the polished rice in Jiahua 1 contained slightly higher selenium than Nanjing 9108, which was 0.507 mg kg−1. However, when the selenium fertilizer application rate was 80 g Se ha−1, the polished rice had slightly lower selenium than Nanjing 9108, which was 0.201 mg kg−1.
Except for the control, the Wuyunjing 29 paddy rice contained higher selenium than the brown rice, and the brown rice contained higher selenium than polished rice. This was the same trend as Jiahua 1. Whether it was polished rice, brown rice, or paddy rice, under an unequal amount of selenium fertilizer, the increase in selenium content was significantly lower than that of the first two varieties. When the selenium fertilizer application rate increased from 40 g Se ha−1 to 80 g Se ha−1, the selenium contained in the Wuyunjing 29 polished rice only increased to 0.591 mg kg−1 from 0.210 mg kg−1.
Without selenium fertilizer, the selenium content of polished rice and brown rice was almost the same. The paddy rice only contained slightly higher selenium than polished rice and brown rice. Compared with polished rice, more selenium accumulates in rice husk and rice bran.

3.3. Selenium Accumulation

Figure 3 showed the accumulation of selenium in rice shoots and the distribution ratio of selenium accumulation between rice paddy and straw. After applying selenium fertilizer, the total selenium accumulation of the three rice varieties increased significantly compared with the control without fertilization. While 40 g Se ha−1 of the selenium fertilizer was applied, there were no significant differences in total selenium among Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29. However, when Se fertilizer was applied at 80 g Se ha−1, the total selenium accumulation in shoots of the three rice varieties rose considerably. The amount was 2.45, 1.75 and 2.40 times while 40 g Se ha−1 of the selenium fertilizer was applied.
The selenium harvest index was the ratio of selenium accumulated in rice grain to selenium accumulated in the shoots, as shown in Table 2, ranging from 0.154 to 0.428, which showed that most of the selenium accumulated in the straw. Figure 3 showed that even with the same selenium fertilizer treatment, the proportion of selenium accumulation in rice grain and straw was also significantly different due to the difference in varieties. As a whole, Nanjing 9108 and Jiahua 1 were equivalent in the average selenium harvest index under the selenium fertilizer treatment, which was 0.318 and 0.312, respectively. In contrast, the average selenium harvest index of the Wuyunjing 29 under the selenium fertilizer treatment was only half of the former two. Except for the selenium harvest index of the Nanjing 9108 under the selenium fertilizer treatment, the other two had a significantly lower selenium harvest index under the selenium fertilizer treatment than the control. Among those three varieties, the amount of selenium fertilizer had a specific effect on the selenium harvest index of rice.

3.4. Effect of Selenium Application Rate on Rice Selenium Transport and Apparent Utilization

It can be seen from Table 2 that there are significant differences in the rice harvest index and selenium harvest index among different varieties. The average harvest indices of Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 were 0.467, 0.521 and 0.438, respectively. When selenium fertilizer was applied, there were no significant effects on the harvest index of any of these varieties. Without selenium fertilizer treatment, the selenium harvest index of Jiahua 1 was the highest at 0.428, followed by Wuyunjing 29 at 0.336, and Nanjing 9108 was the lowest at 0.261.
The selenium transport coefficient refers to the ratio of the selenium concentration in rice grain and rice straw, indicating the ability of selenium to transfer from rice straw to rice grain. Statistical analysis showed that the variety had a specific effect on the selenium transport coefficient, but did not reach a significant difference. The supply level of selenium fertilizer could substantially affect the selenium transport coefficient. Except for Nanjing 9108 with a selenium supply of 40 g Se ha−1, the selenium had a significantly lower transport coefficient under other selenium fertilizer treatments than in control. This illustrated selenium fertilizer supply could promote the selenium accumulated in rice grain and rice straw to rise considerably, but significantly reduce the transfer capacity of selenium from rice straw to rice grain.
The apparent utilization rate of selenium refers to the difference between the selenium accumulation in the selenium-applied plots and the selenium-free plots as a percentage of the selenium application. After applying selenium fertilizer, the apparent utilization efficiency of selenium was between 23.7% and 34.3%. The data showed that the apparent selenium utilization rate of Nanjing 9108 and Wuyunjing 29 was increased by 36.3% and 31.9%, respectively, when 80 g Se ha−1 of selenium fertilizer was applied rather than when 40 g Se ha−1 of the selenium fertilizer was applied. However, neither the rice variety nor the amount of selenium fertilizer could significantly affect the selenium in its apparent utilization.

4. Discussion

Selenium, as an essential trace element for humans and animals, is unnecessary for plants [1,40]. The content of N, P and K in the soil, the primary conditions of the experimental site and the variety and management measures could affect the yield of rice [41,42]. However, selenium may have a specific impact on rice yield [8,14,43,44]. For example, Boldrin et al. [8] found that the rice yield would not be significantly affected by applying either selenate fertilizer or selenite fertilizer. Hu et al. [43] reported that when adding exogenous selenium to make the soil selenium concentration reach 0.5 and 1.0 mg Se kg−1, no changes are found in the weight of rice roots, straw and grains. Similar results were reported by Shen et al. [14], who confirmed that foliar spraying of NaSeO3 (0 and 15 mg L−1) would almost make no change to the rice yield. However, Zhang et al. [44] indicated that while 50 g Se ha−1 of the selenite fertilizer was applied, the rice yield could significantly increase. Ghritlahre’s research showed there was a reduction in work at high concentrations [45]. In this study, when the supply of nano-selenium fertilizer was 0, 40, and 80 g Se ha−1, Jiahua 1 increased first and then no change, while the work of Nanjing 9108 and WuyunJing29 showed no change trend. Zhang’s [44] field research results showed that when the selenium fertilizer application rate was 20–50 g Se ha−1, the photosynthetic rate of rice could be increased, but when the selenium fertilizer applied exceeded 50 g Se ha−1, the photosynthetic rate showed a downward trend. They observed that the effect of nano-selenium fertilizer application on rice yield was slightly different depending on the variety, but it was not significant.
Rice yield was composed of four parts: adequate panicle number, grain number per panicle, seed setting rate and 1000-grain weight. The level of these yield factors determined the size of rice yield [1,24,46]. Shen et al. [14] also reported that compared with the medium selenium concentration (0.97 mg kg−1) in the soil, the number of grains per panicle and the grain filling rate of rice under high selenium concentration (1.47 mg kg−1) decreased significantly. This is why the yield of rice with high soil concentration declined. However, it was also reported that spraying selenium fertilizer on leaves did not affect the number of grains per panicle, seed setting rate and thousand-grain weight of rice. In this study, most yield factors could not be affected significantly by the foliar application of selenium fertilizer, except for a few yield factors, such as application of selenium fertilizer could substantially increase the total number of grains per panicle of Nanjing 9108; application of selenium in Jiahua 1 after 40 g Se ha−1 fertilizer, the panicle length and total grain number increased, and the adequate panicle number decreased. While 80 g Se ha−1 of the selenium fertilizer was applied, the panicle length, total grain number and sufficient panicle number were not different from the control; the application of the selenium fertilizer made the total number of grains per panicle of WuyunJing 29 decrease. The results showed that different rice varieties had different effects on yield factors.
Among the three rice varieties, in the case of no selenium fertilizer applied, the polished rice and brown rice contained almost equal selenium. The paddy rice contained only slightly higher selenium than polished rice and brown rice. The supply of nano-selenium fertilizer to rice could promote the paddy rice, brown rice and polished rice to contain significantly increased selenium. However, the respective increase ranges had specific differences due to the differences in varieties. Many studies reported and compared the selenium content in different parts of rice after applying selenium fertilizer [13,14]. Sun et al. [13] found that the selenium contained in each part of rice was in the order of straw > bran > paddy rice > polished rice > rice husk, and such order in Shen’s [14] research was brown rice > paddy rice > polished rice> rice husk. The results of this study were similar to those of previous studies. For Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, such order was straw > paddy rice > brown rice > polished rice, while for Nanjing 9108, such order was straw > brown rice > paddy rice > polished rice. Paddy rice consists of brown rice and rice husk, and brown rice contains bran and polished rice. It may be that the selenium concentration in rice husk of Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing was higher than that in bran, while the opposite happened in Nanjing 9108.
The results showed that the selenium content in polished rice was indeed the lowest, while the selenium content in rice straw, husk and bran was higher. It is a pity that people only eat polished rice and discard the other parts of the grain. It reported that selenium-containing proteins purified from Selenium-enriched brown rice exhibit antioxidant activities and may be used as potential antioxidants [47]. Other research showed that brown rice is rich in nutrients such as lipid, protein, vitamins and minerals [48,49]. Therefore, brown rice consumption should be encouraged. Moreover, it could feed cattle and pigs with Selenium-rich straw and rice chaff to develop selenium-rich meat products. At the same time, increasing the amount of selenium transferred from other parts to polished rice was also an important direction for the future selection of selenium-rich rice varieties.
Song et al. [23] compared the selenium-enriching capacity of rice, corn and soybean, and the results showed that rice had the most robust, selenium-enriching capacity. In this experiment, when no selenium fertilizer applies, the selenium accumulation in Nanjing 9108 and Wuyunjing 29 was almost the same, which were 1.902 g Se ha−1 and 1.889 g Se ha−1, respectively. The low biomass of rice straw made Jiahua 1 only contained 1.0473 g Se ha−1. The application of 40 g Se ha−1 of nano-selenium fertilizer made the rice and straw biomass and selenium content of Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 complement each other, making the selenium accumulation in the shoots similar, which was, respectively, 11.370 g Se ha−1, 12.332 g Se ha−1 and 12.219 g Se ha−1. When 80 g Se ha−1 selenium fertilizer was applied, the total selenium accumulation of the three rice varieties was, respectively, 2.45, 1.75 and 2.40 times that of when 40 g of Se ha−1 selenium fertilizer was applied. The results of this experiment showed the strong ability of the rice in absorbing and accumulating selenium. Like most research results, the selenium accumulated in rice is tightly associated with the selenium supply [14,36,37]. Significant differences were observed in rice varieties regarding selenium absorption and accumulation [22,29,32].
The rice selenium harvest index reflects the distribution proportion of selenium accumulation in rice and straw of three rice types. Although there were significant differences between the three varieties, no matter which variety, the selenium accumulation in rice straw accounted for most of the selenium accumulation in rice shoots. The observation found no significant differences in the selenium transport coefficient in the three varieties. Except for Nanjing 9104 treated with 40 g Se ha−1 selenium, the rice treated with selenium had significantly lower selenium transport coefficients than the control. As observed, no significant differences were found as to the selenium transport coefficient between Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 under the treatment of selenium fertilizer, which was identical to the results of Jiang et al. [50]. However, the selenium transport coefficient of Nanjing 9108 in this study decreased significantly with the increase in selenium fertilizer. Therefore, in the research and development of selenium rich rice varieties in the future, improving the absorption capacity of selenium from fertilizer to rice and the efficiency of selenium transfer from nutritive organ to rice grain will be the focus of research.
In this study, the apparent utilization rate of selenium fertilizer for the three rice varieties was 23.7–32.3%, with no significant difference. According to Huang et al. [51], under the condition of selenium fertilizer soil application, the amount of accumulated external selenium in rice shoots and grains accounted for 2.60–3.45% and 0.94–1.32% of the whole external selenium added. In this study, the accumulated amount of external selenium in rice grains accounted for 3.15–9.83% of the total external selenium added, which was significantly higher than that in Huang et al.’s report [51]. According to Zhang et al. [44], when 100 g Se ha−1 of selenite is applied to the soil, the selenium content of brown rice was 76.8 ug kg−1, and when 75 g Se ha−1 of selenium was sprayed on the leaves, the brown rice could contain selenium as much as 410 ug kg−1. Similar results reported by Galinha et al. [52] indicated that in the foliar spraying with the same amount of selenite fertilizer as a soil application, the selenium content in wheat grains was more than twice that of soil. In this experiment, when 40 g Se ha−1 and 80 g Se ha−1 selenium fertilizers were sprayed on the leaves, the selenium in brown rice of Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 reached 0.633 mg kg−1 and 1.143 mg kg−1, 0.522 mg kg−1 and 1.009 mg kg−1, 0.360 mg kg−1 and 0.923 mg kg−1, respectively. The results showed that the effect of foliar selenium application was significantly higher than that of soil selenium application. The reason might be that selenium fertilizer foliar spraying was beneficial for plants to absorb and accumulate selenium, which was stored in plant protein. In contrast, selenium fertilizer soil application might reduce the absorption efficiency of selenium due to leaching, fixation and other reasons [53,54].
Many studies have shown that there are two ways to improve the selenium content of rice: one is to improve the content of Se in rice by exogenous application of selenium, the other one is breeding of selenium-rich rice varieties [10,14,32,36,55]. Zhang et al. [56] studied 151 rice varieties before finding that brown rice contained selenium ranging from 0.029 mg kg−1 to 0.103 mg kg−1. Based on this, the rice varieties were divided into three categories: high-selenium varieties (>0.074 mg kg−1), medium-selenium varieties (0.050 mg kg−1–0.069 mg kg−1) and low-selenium varieties (<0.036 mg kg−1). In this study, when selenium fertilizer was not applied, the selenium contents of brown rice in Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 were 0.069, 0.061 and 0.072 in order. If the above standards are followed, the three rice varieties should belong to medium selenium varieties to wide selenium varieties. The differences among the three varieties described above may come from different genotypes [56,57]. Nanjing 9108 was a hybrid of Wuxiangjing 14/Kanto 194 by the Food Crop Research Institute of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2009. Jiahua 1 was a variety bred by Jiaxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Zhejiang Province by combining cross-breeding and pollen culture technology in 2000. Its parent combination is Xiushui 110/Bing 98344. Further, Wuyunjing 29 was bred in 2007 by Jiangsu (Wujin) Rice Research Institute and Jiangsu Zhongjiang Seed Industry Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu, China) with Wuyunjing 7/Tai 0206.
Although selenium plays a significant role in the body anti-oxidation system and protects the body from the development of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and masculine sterility, the safety margins between Se toxicity and deficiency are pretty narrow for living organisms [18]. It is reported that the recommended selenium content in grains used as fodder and feed are 0.2 to 0.3 mg kg−1 and 0.1 to 0.2 mg kg−1, respectively. Toxicosis occurs when an animal’s diet contains more than 3 to 8 mg/kg Se. However, it has also been reported that it was relatively safe and did not risk excessive selenium intake [58].
In China, the standard for selenium-rich is defined as 0.04–0.3 mg kg−1 (GB/T22499, 2008) [35]. Among the three varieties of rice, the polished rice contained selenium ranging from 0.210 to 0.933 mg kg−1. Only the selenium content of the Wuyunjing29’s polished rice at a selenium supply of 40 g Se ha−1 met the Chinese standard for selenium-rich rice (0.04–0.3 mg kg−1) (GB/T22499, 2008) [35]. The results showed that the three kinds of rice had better absorption of selenium. Most studies [14,36,51] showed the obvious proportioning of the selenium contained in the rice grains to the supply of exogenous selenium. Excessive application of selenium fertilizer will lead to high selenium content in rice and environmental pollution. Many studies have shown that selenium enters the environment through volatilization, leakage and runoff [22,29,59]. High selenium levels in the geochemical environment may have harmful influences and can cause severe toxicity to living things [18]. Although the prices of Se-enriched rice products are 2–3 times higher than those of the same type of everyday products in China, excessive application of selenium fertilizer will increase the production cost of selenium-rich rice. Therefore, a more economical and “eco-friendly” way to raise Se content needs to develop. Liang et al. [60] showed that the Se-rich rice was able to accumulate more abundance of Se under a low Se environment comparing to the Se-free rice. So, the three rice varieties in this experiment had a strong selenium enrichment capacity that can plant as selenium-enriched and high-yield rice varieties. For the rice variety Wuyunjing 15, it is appropriate to spray 40 g Se ha−1 selenium fertilizer on the leaves to achieve Se-enriched rice within the standard of Se concentration (0.3 mg kg−1). Still, for Nanjing 9104 and Jiahua 1, more studies should be carried out to investigate the optimal spray concentration of Se. It has been reported that the application of Se also increased the concentration of albumin, globulin, prolamin, and glutelin in polished grains [61]. Another study showed that applying Se from 0 to 25 g ha−1 had a good improvement in the nutritional quality of rice grains [62]. This was similar to many research results [14,43], and the results of this experiment showed that the application of selenium fertilizer had no significant effect on rice yield, but the price of rich-Se rice can be as much as 2–3 times greater than that of low-Se rice. Therefore, Se-enriched rice produced by spraying an appropriate amount of foliar selenium fertilizer is recognized as an optimal choice for enhancing Se intake in the study area, which will be more economical and environmentally friendly as a high selenium cost and exogenous Se pollution are avoided. In this study, selenium-enriched and high-yield rice varieties were selected, and the optimal amount of selenium fertilizer was recommended to produce safe selenium-rich rice in the experiment areas.

5. Conclusions

The main conclusions of this study are as follows.
(1)
Yield has no significant difference in the three japonica rice varieties, but there are some differences in yield components and Se uptake and accumulation.
(2)
With the increase in selenium fertilizer, the selenium concentration and selenium accumulation in different parts of the three japonica rice varieties increased significantly. However, except for Nanjing 9108, there was no significant difference in the selenium transport coefficient of Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29 between the two selenium fertilizer levels. A similar result was no significant difference in the apparent utilization rate of selenium fertilizer of the three japonica rice varieties between the two selenium fertilizer levels.
(3)
The three rice varieties in this experiment had a strong selenium enrichment capacity to plant as selenium-enriched and high-yield rice varieties. For the three japonica rice varieties, the amount of selenium fertilizer should not exceed 40 g Se ha−1 to achieve safe selenium-rich rice.
(4)
The Se-rich rice was able to accumulate more abundance of Se under a low Se environment comparing to the Se-free rice. This is the most efficient way to select selenium rice varieties and combined them with an appropriate amount of selenium fertilizer in order to produce safe selenium-rich rice in the experiment areas, which will be more economic and environmentally friendly as a high selenium cost and exogenous Se pollution are avoided.

Author Contributions

J.Y., X.C. and J.F. conceived the project and designed the experiments. J.Y., X.C., T.Z. and Z.Z. performed the experiments. J.Y. and X.C. analyzed the data. J.Y. and X.C. finalized the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the Natural Science Research project of Anhui Province Higher Education Institutions of China (No. KJ2017A448), the key construction discipline project of food science and engineering of Chaohu University (No. kj16zdjsxk02) and the research funds of Anhui postdoctoral researchers in China in 2018.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the workers of Zhaohe farm for their assistance in the field experiment.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. The yield of diverse rice varieties under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
Figure 1. The yield of diverse rice varieties under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
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Figure 2. Selenium content of other paddy rice, brown rice and polished rice under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
Figure 2. Selenium content of other paddy rice, brown rice and polished rice under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
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Figure 3. Selenium accumulation of different rice varieties and straw under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
Figure 3. Selenium accumulation of different rice varieties and straw under different selenium supply levels. Columns with different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference between combinations at the 5% level by LSD test. V1, V2 and V3 represent japonica rice varieties Nanjing 9108, Jiahua 1 and Wuyunjing 29, respectively; L0, L1 and L2 represent the amount of selenium fertilizer 0, 40 and 80 g Se ha−1, respectively.
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Table
Table 1. Yield components of diverse rice varieties under different selenium supply levels and multivariate analysis of variance results of tapes, selenium fertilizer levels and their interactive effects on yield components.
Table 1. Yield components of diverse rice varieties under different selenium supply levels and multivariate analysis of variance results of tapes, selenium fertilizer levels and their interactive effects on yield components.
Varieties (V)Selenium Fertilizer Level (L)Plant Height
(cm)		Panicle Length (cm)Effective Panicle Number
(×104 ha−1)		Total Grain Number Per PanicleSeed Setting Rate (%)Thousand-Grain Weight
(g)
Nanjing 9108L086.72 a14.17 c443.70 b107.22 c0.95 a24.32 b
L188.14 a14.08 c420.74 b124.38 ab0.93 a24.69 b
L288.32 a14.56 bc419.63 bc125.11 ab0.95 a24.61 b
Jiahua 1L078.43 b12.47 d523.15 a88.66 e0.90 a24.57 b
L180.43 b13.68 c467.59 b104.53 cd0.92 a24.58 b
L281.12 b12.79 d517.59 a92.57 de0.94 a23.53 c
Wuyunjing 29L088.53 a15.82 a377.04 c136.38 a0.95 a29.03 a
L185.68 a15.09 ab366.67 c122.69 b0.93 a28.80 a
L286.09 a15.03 ab367.41 c123.84 ab0.91 a28.74 a
SEM1.400.4123.375.750.020.29
source of variation
Varieties (V)		72.10 **305.22 **48.43 **51.02 **1.47 ns476.23 **
Selenium fertilizer level (L)0.17 ns275.68 **2.42ns1.89ns0.32 ns2.98 ns
V × L4.35 *279.32 **0.90ns5.97 **1.70 ns3.65 *
Values are averages of three replications; Numbers followed by different letters in the same column (Between combinations) differ significantly at the 5%level by LSD test. SEM = Standard Error of Mean. Significance levels show by ns, *, and ** for not significant, significant at p < 0.05, and p < 0.01, respectively.
Table
Table 2. Multivariate analysis of variance results of tapes, selenium fertilizer level and their interactive effects on the harvest index, selenium harvest index, selenium transport coefficient and apparent utilization rate of rice.
Table 2. Multivariate analysis of variance results of tapes, selenium fertilizer level and their interactive effects on the harvest index, selenium harvest index, selenium transport coefficient and apparent utilization rate of rice.
Varieties (V)The Selenium Fertilizer Level (L)The Harvest IndexThe Selenium Harvest IndexThe Selenium Transport CoefficientThe Apparent Utilization Rate of Selenium (%)
Nanjing 9108L00.45 d0.26 bc0.71 abc
L10.46 cd0.33 ab0.74 abc23.67 b
L20.49 bc0.30 b0.48 d32.39 ab
Jiahua 1L00.52 ab0.43 a0.87 a
L10.52 ab0.35 ab0.61 bcd28.21 ab
L20.53 a0.28 bc0.62 bcd25.59 ab
Wuyunjing 29L00.44 d0.34 ab0.77 ab
L10.44 d0.15 d0.46 d26.02 ab
L20.44 d0.18 cd0.53 cd34.34 a
SEM0.020.040.094.22
source of variation
Varieties (V)		44.51 **12.43 **2.34 ns0.55 ns
Selenium fertilizer level (L)1.64 ns6.36 **11.08 **0.07 ns
V × L1.19 ns5.27 **2.67 ns0.14 ns
Values are averages of three replications; Numbers followed by different letters in the same column (Between combinations) differ significantly at the 5% level by LSD test. SEM = Standard Error of Mean. Significance levels show by ns, and ** for not significant, significant at p < 0.05, and p < 0.01, respectively.
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Yan, J.; Chen, X.; Zhu, T.; Zhang, Z.; Fan, J. Effects of Selenium Fertilizer Application on Yield and Selenium Accumulation Characteristics of Different Japonica Rice Varieties. Sustainability 2021, 13, 10284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810284

AMA Style

Yan J, Chen X, Zhu T, Zhang Z, Fan J. Effects of Selenium Fertilizer Application on Yield and Selenium Accumulation Characteristics of Different Japonica Rice Varieties. Sustainability. 2021; 13(18):10284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810284

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yan, Juan, Xiaoju Chen, Tonggui Zhu, Zhongping Zhang, and Jianbo Fan. 2021. "Effects of Selenium Fertilizer Application on Yield and Selenium Accumulation Characteristics of Different Japonica Rice Varieties" Sustainability 13, no. 18: 10284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810284

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