ABSTRACT:
Field trials were conducted to evaluate the differential ability of selenium (Se) accumulation among alfalfa (Medicago sativa), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus comiculatus), canola (Brassica napus), and wild brown mustard (Brassica juncea) grown in soil where Se-laden plant tissue (Brassica juncea) had been incorporated. Sixty days later, the mean total soil Se concentration at time of planting was 0. 7 mg Se kg−1 soil (0.7 part per million). Plants were clipped 60 and 145 days after transplanting, respectively, then weighed and analyzed for total tissue Se, crude protein, and digestible dry matter. The order of tissue Se accumulation among plant species tested were wild mustard=canola> al-falfa>birdsfoot trefoil<tall fescue. Selenium concentrations ranged from 1.3 to 50 mg Se kg−1 dry matter in the tall fescue and mustard/canola, respectively. Crude protein ranged from 16% to 27% for all species, excluding stem tissue from mustard and canola. Digestible dry matter of at least 90% was uniform among all plant species tested. Tall fescue, birdsfoot trefoil, and alfalfa appear to be suited as practical forage species to be grown on Se-enriched soils.
Footnotes
G. S. Banuelos is a plant nutritionist, R. Mead is a soil scientist, and S. Akohoue is a food technologist with Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Water Management Research Laboratory, Fresno, California 93727. L. Wu is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of California, Davis, 95616. P. Beuselinck is a research geneticist with the Plant Genetics Unit, ARS, USDA, Columbia, Missouri 65711.
- Copyright 1992 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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