Effect of foliar sodium selenate biofortification on cauliflower yield, nutritional value and antioxidant status

Relevance. Biofortification of agricultural crops with selenium is considered to be the most promising method for the human selenium status optimization. Methods. Effect of foliar biofortification of cauliflower, Polyarnaya Zvezda cv, with sodium selenate of different concentrations on yield, selenium content and biochemical characteristics of plants were investigated. Results. Enrichment of plants with selenium increased yield by 1.23-1.31 times, sugar content - 1.6 times, ascorbic acid concentration - 1.52-2 times. On the contrary, the treatment did not affect pholyphenol content and antioxidant activity of ethanolic extracts of plants. Selenium accumulation levels decreased according to inflorescences > leaves > roots. Sodium selenate solution at 75 mg/L concentration increased mass of cauliflower leaves 1.9 times and roots - 1.5 times. Consumption of 100 g of cauliflower fortified with 50 mg/L sodium selenate solution provided 100% of the daily adequate selenium consumption level. Utilization of higher sodium selenate concentrations ensured 127% and 418% of the daily adequate consumption level in case of 75 mg/L and 100 mg/L concentrations respectively. Taking into account insignificant differences between sugar content and antioxidants in cauliflower inflorescences fortified with different doses of selenium the most suitable concentration to be used was 50 mg/L