Selenium in Plants and Soils, and Selenosis in Enshi, China: Implications for Selenium Biofortification

The total selenium (Se) content of soils in Enshi, China, the so-called “World Capital of Selenium”, is concentrated in a range of 20–60 mg/kg DW which is approximately 150–500 times greater than the average Se content (0.125 mg/kg DW) in Se-deficient areas and approximately 50–150 times greater than that (0.40 mg/kg DW) in Se-enriched areas in China, respectively. However, the distribution of Se in soils is greatly uneven with some exceptionally high contents of more than 100 mg/kg DW, which is very likely caused by the micro-topographical features and leaching conditions. Among the 14 plant species in Enshi, Adenocaulon himalaicum has the highest contents of Se from 299 to 2,278 (mean 760) mg/kg DW in the leaf, from 268 to 1,612 (mean 580) mg/kg DW in the stem, from 227 to 8,391 (mean 1,744) mg/kg DW in the root, and therefore was identified as a secondary Se-accumulating plant. Furthermore, the SeCys2 fraction was predominant in the tissues with a proportion of 70–98 %, which is quite different from other Se-accumulating plants, e.g., garlic, onion, and broccoli. Although the Se concentration in resident foods and the daily Se intake decreased significantly from 1963 to 2010 in Enshi, the present daily Se intake (575 μg/d) is still above the recommended maximum safe intake of 550 μg/d, which indicates that there may be potential risk for selenosis in Enshi. Both Se distributions in soils and plants and human daily Se intakes obviously indicate that Enshi, China should be Se-phytoremediated to decrease the risk for selenosis there. Fortunately, Se-biofortification was taken as an effective method to overcome this problem. Hopefully, Enshi, China is moving on a natural field-scale trial for integration of Se-phytoremediation and Se-biofortification.