The content of selenium in soils of some regions of the Komi Republic

The estimation of selenium content in soils taken from the remote rhizosphere zone of some species of wild and cultivated plants of the genus Allium growing on the territory of the Republic of Komi is given. The data obtained allow us to classify the soil of the Republic as selenium-deficient or soils with marginal failure. The content of selenium varies in the range of 50 - 316 g/kg of airdry soil, that is below the Clark value set for selenium. Despite the low selenium status of soils of the Republic, plants of the genus Allium are accumulators of selenium, and consequently can be used to solve the problem of selenium- deficiency of the population of the Northern regions. However, the final conclusion requires more indepth study of the selenium content in soils, as well as the determination of selenium status of the population and plant resources of the Republic. The authors believe that one of the urgent tasks is to draw up aselenium map of the Komi Republic, which is currently a "white spot" on the map of Russia.