Prof. Ihab Mohamed Farid Abdelsamie :: Publications:

SELENIUM (Se) is an important nutrient for human health; thus its content should be appraised in edible plant parts to satisfy his needs. Its interaction with P in plants is not well identified. Accordingly, a pot experiment of a complete randomized design was conducted to highlight this effect using a soil enriched with Se at a rate of 10 mg Se kg-1. Calcium superphosphate was then added at three different rates i.e. 6.7, 13.4 and 20.1 mg P kg-1 and all pots were planted with maize seeds (Zea mays L f16) and incubated under the greenhouse conditions for 60 days; thereafter soils and plant samples were collected. Generally, maize fresh and dry weights increased significantly owing to application of P at a rate of 13.4 mg P kg-1, while decreased with increasing the rate of applied-P. Likewise, AB-DTPA-Se increased significantly in soil; yet such increases were significant only with the application of the highest rate of P. In plants, Se uptake decreased significantly with increasing the rate of applied P. In this concern, there were negative correlations between AB-DTPA extractable Se and maize fresh and dry weights. In conclusion, P inputs at a rate of 13.4 mg P kg-1 raised significantly P uptake while diminished the uptake of Se. This probably indicates that P inputs suppress the influx of Se to plant roots. At higher P rates, both Se and P uptake decreased considerably. This might indicate that Se underwent co-precipitated with P in soil.