Table 4.
Protein quality improvement by Se biofortification in horticultural crops.
| Sr. No. | Horticultural crop | Se form and application | Se concentration applied | Physiological effects with an emphasis on protein quality | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) |
Foliar application of sodium selenate and Se nanoparticles | 10 mg L-1 | - Se enrichment influenced both primary and secondary metabolites - Changes in fruit biochemical composition including protein-related quality parameters |
Shiriaev et al., 2023 |
| 2. | Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) | Foliar application of sodium selenate | 0, 5, and 10 mg L-1 | - Se-biofortified plants exhibited improvements in proline, total soluble sugars and proteins - Phenol, flavonoids, and antioxidant enzymes were also enhanced under salinity stress |
Amerian et al., 2024 |
| 3. | Potato (Solanum tuberosum) |
Nano-Se fertilizer having particle size of 50–78 nm | 0 and 1500 mg L-1 | - Increase in crude protein and vitamin C - Tuber Se content was significantly enhanced along with potato yield and tuber quality - Up-regulation of antioxidant enzyme activities of GSH, POD, PPO, SOD and PAL |
Liu et al., 2025 |
| 4. | African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon L.) | Se-fortified fertilizer in the form of sodium selenite | 0, and 1 g kg-1 | - A 20% increase in Se concentration from 5.91 ± 0.02 mg 100 g-1 to 101.01 ± 0.05 mg 100 g-1 - Significant improvement in the proximate composition of fruit including crude protein |
Ogunsuyi et al., 2025 |
| 5. | Citrus (Citrus reticulata) |
Soil, foliar and combined applications (Soil + Foliar) | 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 200 mg L-1 | - Fruit Se contents increased during all stages of development - Improvement in fruit quality traits including protein contents |
Wang et al., 2024 |
| 6. | Onion (Allium cepa) |
Soil and foliar application of sodium selentae | 0, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 g ha-1 | - Increase in Se content in the bulb and its dry biomass - improvements in bulb quality traits |
Machado et al., 2024 |
| 7. | Broccoli(Brassica oleracea var. italica) | Foliar spray of selenate and selenite | 0, 1 and 2 mM | - Increase in total soluble proteins by +2.2 folds - Se-biofortification also enhanced crop mineral nutrition |
Buttarelli et al., 2025 |
| 8. | Perennial wall rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia L. -DC) | Foliar spray of sodium selenate | 0, 50 mg Se L−1 (0.26 mM) |
- Prominent improvements in the protein (%) at three crop cycles - Increase in Se contents as well as Ca, Mg, K, P, Fe, Cu, and Zn |
Tallarita et al., 2025 |
| 9. | Pakchoi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) |
Soil application of sodium selenate and selenite | 0, 0.5, 1, 3 and 5 mg kg-1 | - Improvements in crop quality traits - Enhancement in yield characteristics - Both shoot and root Se concentrations were enhanced - Crop quality traits improved |
Li et al., 2025 |
| 10. | Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) |
Foliar spray of sodium selenite at fruit expansion stage | 0 and 25 μM | - Application of Se increased the soluble protein concentration - Increase in yield and quality of tomatoes |
Hu et al., 2023 |
| 11. | Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) |
Foliar application sodium selenite | 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg L-1 | - Significant increase in the soluble proteins at low concentrations | Cheng et al., 2024 |
| 12. | Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) |
Root zone application of Se-NPs | 10 mg L-1 | - Se NPs individually or under stress conditions improved the soluble protein content | El-Batal et al., 2023 |
| 13. | Mung bean (Vigna radiata) | Foliar spray of sodium selenite | CK, 15, 30, and 45 g ha−1 | - 30g ha-1 Se concentration significantly increased the contents of protein in the two mung bean varieties | Wang et al., 2022a |
| 14. | Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) |
Seed pre-treatment with sodium selenate and Se-NPs | 0.0, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 μM | - Enhanced total soluble proteins were recorded cowpea seedlings at lower concentrations | Zeid et al., 2019 |
| 15. | Soybean (Glycine max) |
Foliar application of Se-NPs | 5, 10, and 20 mg L-¹ | - Positive relationship between SeNPs application and soybean seed protein content compared to control was observed | Ssemalawa et al., 2025 |
| 16. | Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) |
Root zone application of Se-NPs | 0, 100, 300 mg L-1 | - SeNPs improved the protein contents of the tomato plants under Cd-stress | Ahmad et al., 2024 |
| 17. | Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) |
Se nanopowder applied as seed pre-treatment | 400 g ha-1 | - Nano-Se application led to an increase in the protein content | Chernikova et al., 2019 |