Growth and Physiological Characteristics of Flue-cured Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum L.) under Selenate-Se Stress

ABSTRACTSelenate is chemically similar to sulfate and can be taken up and assimilated by plants. Although selenium (Se) has not been shown to be essential for higher plants, Se is toxic to many crops in excess. To obtain better insights into the effects of the possible mechanism of how plants alleviates the toxicity of selenate-Se stress, the growth, Se subcellular distribution of fresh leaves, antioxidant enzyme activities and photosynthetic traits of flue-cured tobacco (FCT) through a hydroponic experiment were studied. Results revealed that the growth of FCT reduced remarkably, meanwhile the content of proline and malonaldehyde (MDA) enhanced significantly with selenate-Se stress. Selenium was mainly stored in the cytoplasm and the cell wall in fresh leaves. Cell membrane of lipid peroxidation was aggravated, and it stimulated the improvement of the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and reduced the activity of peroxidase (POD) with the selenate-Se stress. The net photosynthet...