Abstract
| - The effect of selenium (Se) treatments on potato growth and Se, soluble sugar, and starchaccumulation was investigated. Potato plants were cultivated in quartz sand without or with sodiumselenate (0, 0.075, 0.3 mg Se kg-1 sand). In young potato plants, Se treatment resulted in higherstarch concentrations in upper leaves. The tuber yield of Se-treated potato plants was higher andcomposed of relatively few but large tubers. At harvest, the starch concentration in tubers did notdiffer significantly between treatments. The higher Se addition (0.3 mg Se kg-1) may have delayedthe aging of stolons and roots, which was observed as high concentrations of soluble sugar andstarch. Together with the earlier results showing elevated starch concentration in Se-treated lettuce,the findings of this research justify the conclusion that Se has positive effects also on potatocarbohydrate accumulation and possibly on yield formation. Keywords: Potato tuber; roots; selenium; soluble sugars; starch; stolons; upper leaves
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