Effects of exogenous sucrose and selenium on plant growth, quality, and sugar metabolism of pea sprouts.

Background: Pea sprouts are considered a healthy food. Sucrose is a key nutritional factor affecting taste and flavor. Meanwhile, selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that plays multiple roles in wide variety of physiological processes and improves crop quality and nutritional value. Nonetheless, the effects of the combination of sucrose and Se treatment on growth, quality, and sugar metabolism of pea sprouts have not been explored.

Results: The results revealed that sucrose at 10 mg L obviously increased fresh weight, vitamin C, soluble protein, soluble sugar, fructose, glucose, and sucrose contents. Se treatments also improved nutritional quality, but higher Se (2.5 mg L ) significantly inhibited the growth of seedlings. Interestingly, the combined application of sucrose (10 mg L ) and Se (1.25 mg L ) could effectively promote vitamin C, sucrose, and fructose contents, especially the Se content, compared with Se application alone. Additionally, there were significant differences in the regulation of sugar metabolism between Se alone and combined application of sucrose and Se. Acid invertase and neutral invertase play a pivotal role in the accumulation of soluble sugar under Se treatments alone, and acid invertase might be the key enzyme to limit sugar accumulation under combined application of sucrose and Se.

Conclusion: The moderate combined application of sucrose (10 mg L ) and Se (1.25 mg L ) more effectively regulated sugar metabolism and improved nutritional quality than Se application alone did. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.