MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Researchers from the Baltic Immanuel Kant Federal University (IKBFU), members of an international group, have found that the use of selenium in the cultivation of sage stimulates its growth and also improves its medicinal properties, the service of university press.

“Our study shows that the addition of selenium can improve the medicinal and nutritional properties of sage. At the same time, organic and inorganic forms of selenium have different effects on plant growth and physiology. The results obtained will help select the optimal form of selenium, increase the yield and improve the qualities of sage”, said Lyubov Skrypnik, head of the project.

According to the press service, scientists sprayed aqueous solutions containing organic (selenium-methionine and selenium-cysteine ​​amino acids) and inorganic (selenate and selenite) forms of selenium on plants for six weeks, which led to an increase 67% of the photosynthesis rate. “The study showed that organic forms of selenium increased plant weight by 65% ​​and number of leaves by 25% compared to the control group (untreated plants).

Inorganic forms increased these parameters by 20.5% and 9%, respectively. At the same time, when inorganic and organic forms of selenium were used, the content of this element in the plant exceeded the control value by at least 30 times,” the report says.

The amount of glucose, sucrose and total sugars increased by 20-40%. Amino acid and protein levels increased in plants treated with an aqueous solution containing organic forms of selenium. Researchers found that selenium treatment increased the antioxidant activity of sage leaves.

The study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RNF), involved scientists from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad), the Federal Scientific Center for Crop Production (Moscow), the University of life sciences from Iasi (Romania) and University of Naples Federico II (Italy). Their findings are published in Scientia Horticulturae.

About grass

Medicinal sage is included in the State Pharmacopoeia of the Russian Federation and is used in the form of a decoction or tincture, as well as as part of complex remedies with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

According to the press service, at present, sage, as well as other medicinal plants, are not grown on a commercial scale in the Kaliningrad region, but “this direction is promising, and when consideration of the issue of sage cultivation, regional agricultural enterprises engaged in the cultivation of plants expressed interest in the development of this direction,” the press release said.

Research is underway to increase the yield and resistance of sage to negative factors such as drought, low and high temperatures, heavy metals, as well as to make sage more nutritious.