Effects of Selenium Fertilizer on Elements and Chemical Components of Flue-cured Tobacco Using Metallomics and Metabolomics Method

Purpose To study the effects of different fertilization methods and different selenium enrichment levels on the contents of elements and active components in flue-cured tobacco.

MethodsYunyan87 was used as test material, and the following treatments were applied: no application of exogenous selenium application (CK), application of selenium nanoparticles in the rhizosphere (S₁), foliar spray application of selenium nanoparticles with 33.75 g/hm² (S₂) and foliar spray application of selenium nanoparticles with 67.50 g/hm² (S₃). Compositional and multiple omics differences between flue-cured tobacco under different treatments were studied using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, inductively coupled optical emission spectrometer, and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

ResultsThere were obvious differences of element distribution among the four groups of flue-cured tobacco, with the main contributing elements being S, Mg, Mn, Al, P, and Na. The metabolomics of the four groups also displayed obvious differences, with a total of 29 differential metabolites identified, including four phytosterols and their derivatives, nine phenolic compounds, seven amino acid compounds, three aldehyde compounds, and six other compounds. The effect of foliar application of selenium fertilizer on the elements and chemically active components of flue-cured tobacco was found to be more significant than that of rhizosphere application.

ConclusionThese results may serve as a reference for investigating the absorption and bioaccumulation mechanism of selenium-enriched flue-cured tobacco’s elements and chemically active components.