Effects of Foliar Selenium Application on Oxidative Damage and Photosynthetic Properties of Greenhouse Tomato under Drought Stress

Abstract

Both drought stress and exogenous selenium (Se) cause changes in plant physiological characteristics, which are key factors affecting crop yield. Although Se is known to be drought-resistant for crops, its internal physiological regulatory mechanisms are not clear. This study analyzed the effects of selenium application (SeA) on antioxidant enzyme activities, osmoregulatory substance contents, and photosynthetic characteristics of greenhouse tomatoes under drought stress and related physiological mechanisms. The results showed that drought stress induced oxidative damage in cells and significantly increased the content of the membrane lipidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) and the osmoregulatory substance proline (<i>p</i> < 0.001) compared with the adequate water supply. The proline content of severe drought stress (W1) was 9.7 times higher than that of the adequate water supply (W3), and foliar SeA increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activity, and SeA induced different enzymatic reactions in cells under different drought stresses; catalase (CAT) was induced under severe drought stress (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and was significantly increased by 32.1% compared with the clear water control, CAT. Peroxidase (POD) was induced under adequate water supply conditions (<i>p</i> < 0.01), which was significantly increased by 15.2%, and SeA attenuated cell membrane lipidation, which reduced MDA content by an average of 21.5% compared with the clear water control, and also promoted photosynthesis in the crop. Meanwhile, through the entropy weighting method analysis (TOPSIS) of the indexes, the highest comprehensive evaluation score was obtained for the S5W3, followed by the S2.5W3 treatment. Therefore, this study emphasized the importance of SeA to reduce oxidative damage and enhance photosynthesis under drought stress.