The selenium formulation to be applied on alfalfa plants was designed, we have obtained Se-biofortified alfalfa by foliar co-application of different Se treatments together with a plant biostimulant. Our analyses have shown that the application of Se does not cause significant changes in the development of alfalfa plants. In that respect, we have not observed variations neither in the photosynthetic rate, nor in the biomass produced, nor in the nutritional value of the alfalfa forage, as compared with control conditions. On the other hand, we have also observed that foliar applications of Se had no significant effect on crown growth, but in some cases changes the ratio between leaves and stem which affects the palatable and nutritive aspect of the forage. Interestingly, the alfalfa’s crown is a transitional morphological structure located between the shoots and roots, which acts as a reserve organ and could have the capacity to accumulate Se. All these results show that the application of Se it is not detrimental for the nutritional properties of the obtained Se-biofortified forage which is encouraging further studies in field applications.
Quantification and speciation of selenium by indirect speciation, HPLC-MS, and direct speciation by synchrotron-based spectroscopic techniques is almost finished, thus, the final formula that will be applied to the experimental fields will be designed
On April 18th 2022 Alfalfa (cv PROINTA Super Monarca GR 9) was planted: Field experiment will be conducted over a period of two growing seasons (autumn-winter and spring-summer) at the experimental farm of the Rafaela Agricultural Experiment Station of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
Project website www.se4allproject.eu has been designed, also twitter profile (@Se4all1), linkedIn (Se4allproject.eu) and YouTube Channel (@se4all comunication) have been created.
