MOSCOW, October 30. Tyumen State University scientists, as part of an international research team, have developed environmentally friendly methods for enriching agricultural crops with selenium and iodine in Western Siberia. The introduction of these methods in agriculture has already shown an effect in terms of optimizing the elemental composition of feed. The research results were published in the highly rated scientific journal Plants.
Deficiency, excess or imbalance of microelements in food and environmental objects causes a number of health problems in humans and animals, note researchers from Tyumen State University (TSU). This is especially true for areas where, due to anthropogenic impact or natural causes, there is a shortage or imbalance of chemical elements in the “soil – plant – animal – human” system.
Some of the most common are iodine deficiency and selenium deficiency conditions, and scientists have an important task to develop measures to correct the deficiency of selenium and iodine in food chains. The agrochemical method is considered promising — enriching plants that make up the food base for animals and humans with the help of fertilizers containing selenium and iodine. This method allows not only to convert these microelements into an organic form that is safe and accessible to animals and humans, but also to improve the yield and quality of plants.
At the same time, an unbalanced, excessive supply of selenium and iodine to plants can make the plants environmentally unsafe. Therefore, research is needed to predict and standardize the content of microelements in soil and plants.
To assess how effective and safe the enrichment of agricultural products with selenium and iodine is for humans and animals, Tyumen State University scientists studied the effect of chemical elements in the soil-plant-animal system «. To do this, they conducted experiments for many years on certain feed, grain, legume and vegetable crops.
The research was carried out in the subtaiga and forest-steppe zones of Western Siberia (Omsk, Tyumen regions). Members of a scientific team from the National Center for Public Health of Mongolia conducted similar studies with grains and vegetable crops in northern Mongolia.
“Similar research on the enrichment of agricultural crops is being carried out by other research teams. The regional aspect of research is very important here, since the climatic, soil and other conditions of the territory determine the effectiveness of the use of fertilizers,” said Anna Sindireva, head of the Department of Geoecology and Environmental Management of Tyumen State University.
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According to her, for the first time in the conditions of Western Siberia, scientists assessed from an agronomic and sanitary-hygienic point of view the effectiveness of using selenium- and iodine-containing fertilizers for various types of crops. They established the need of plants for microelements, the specific effects of selenium and iodine on the chemical composition of soil and plants. This made it possible to find the most effective methods and doses of microelements.
“It should be noted that we are not limited to field studies with plants. The resulting enriched products are fed into the diet of laboratory animals – rats, rabbits. Then we evaluate changes in the organs of animals when fed with plants enriched with iodine and selenium,” Sindireva noted.
The research results have been introduced and used in the production activities of regional agrochemical services, environmental monitoring centers, environmental authorities, regional farms, as well as in the educational process of Tyumen State University. Scientists plan to develop scientifically based recommendations for correcting the microelement status of certain territories of Russia and Mongolia.
The research is supported by the joint Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports of Mongolia.