Scientia Agricultura Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 59 ›› Issue (17): 3853-3870.doi: 10.3864/j.issn.0578-1752.2026.17.011

• HORTICULTURE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Combined Treatment of Light Quality and Sodium Selenite on Growth and Quality in Mustard Sprouts

HAN ShuYu1(), ZHANG BaoCai2, YU XueNa1, HUANG Zhi1, TANG Yi1, LI HuanXiu1, ZHANG Fen1, HUANG HuanHuan1(), SUN Bo1   

  1. 1 College of Horticulture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130
    2 Sichuan Zhongdu Agriculture Seed Co., ltd, Chengdu 610041
  • Received:2026-04-30 Accepted:2026-06-09 Online:2026-09-03 Published:2026-09-03
  • Contact: HUANG HuanHuan

Abstract:

【Objective】The effects of combined treatment of light quality and sodium selenite on the growth and quality of mustard sprouts were clarified, which provided a theoretical basis and technical support for the optimization of light environment and quality improvement in facility cultivation of mustard sprouts.【Method】This study focused on mustard sprouts, investigating the impacts of different light qualities (white light, red light, blue light) alone and in combination with sodium selenite on key quality indicators such as morphogenesis, photosynthetic characteristics, antioxidant capacity, and accumulation of secondary metabolites, and combined with transcriptome analysis to reveal its regulatory mechanism.【Result】Compared with white light, red light treatment significantly increased the edible fresh weight, plant height, and soluble sugar content of mustard sprouts by 1.19-, 1.07-, and 1.06-fold, respectively. Blue light promoted photosynthetic pigment accumulation by upregulating the expression of photosynthetic pigment-related genes (chlE, por, crtISO, crtZ). The content of total chlorophylls and total carotenoids under blue light were 1.09- and 1.08-fold higher than those under white light, and 1.10- and 1.04-fold higher than those under red light, respectively. Additionally, blue light enhanced the accumulation of flavonoids and total phenolics in mustard sprouts by upregulating the genes involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (PAL, C4H, 4CL, CCR, COMT, POD), with their content increasing by 1.20- and 1.44-fold relative to white light, and by 1.05- and 1.10-fold relative to red light, respectively. Furthermore, blue light treatment significantly increased total glucosinolates content by 1.28-fold and 1.23-fold compared with white light and red light treatments, respectively. The combination of white or blue light with sodium selenite further promoted the accumulation of total chlorophylls and total carotenoids, with the respective content significantly increased by 1.15- and 1.15-fold, and 1.07- and 1.07-fold. The synergistic interaction between blue light and sodium selenite regulated carbon and nitrogen metabolism to facilitate the accumulation of soluble sugar and soluble protein, whose content were significantly enhanced by 1.07-fold and 1.08-fold, respectively. This synergistic effect also improved the antioxidant capacity of mustard sprouts, with the content of ascorbic acid, flavonoids, and total phenolics being 1.13-, 1.16-, and 1.05-fold higher than those under single blue light treatment. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that PC1 and PC2 accounted for 66.1% and 14.0% of the total variance, respectively. The combined treatment of red light and sodium selenite was strongly correlated with plant height, edible fresh weight, and soluble sugar content; single blue light treatment was closely associated with total glucosinolates content; and the combined treatment of blue light and sodium selenite exhibited significant positive correlations with total chlorophylls, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid, and phenolic compounds. Correlation analysis further demonstrated that soluble protein content was significantly and positively correlated with flavonoids, total phenolics, total chlorophylls, and total carotenoids.【Conclusion】Light quality and sodium selenite have significant regulation and synergistic interaction effects on the nutritional quality of mustard sprouts. In particular, the synergistic effect of blue light and sodium selenite can promote the photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant activity and secondary metabolites accumulation of mustard sprouts in an all-round way.

Key words: mustard sprouts, light quality, sodium selenite, growth, quality

Fig. 1

Plant growth and Se content under different treatments in mustard sprouts A: Phenotypes of mustard sprouts under different treatments; B: Edible fresh weight; C: Plant height; D: Se content. W: White light, SeW: White light+sodium selenite, R: Red light, SeR: Red light+sodium selenite, B: Blue light, SeB: Blue light+sodium selenite. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences among treatments (P<0.05). The same as below"

Fig. 2

Chlorophylls, carotenoids content under different treatments in mustard sprouts"

Fig. 3

Content of nutrients, antioxidants and antioxidant capacity under different treatments in mustard sprouts"

Fig. 4

Glucosinolate content under different treatments in mustard sprouts"

Fig. 5

PCA biplot (A) and correlation plot (B) illustrating the effects of light quality and sodium selenite treatment on the growth and quality of mustard sprouts SIN: Sinigrin; GNA: Gluconapin; PRO: Progoitrin; NGBS: Neoglucobrassicin; GBS: Glucobrassicin; 4-MGBS: 4-methoxyglucobrassicin; 4-HGBS: 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin; AGS: Aliphatic glucosinolates; IGS: Indolic glucosinolates; GS: Total glucosinolates"

Fig. 6

Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis in mustard sprouts under different treatments A: Number of DEGs up and down; B, C: Venn diagram of DEGs among comparison groups; D: KEGG enrichment analysis of DEGs among comparison groups"

Fig. 7

Ascorbate and aldarate metabolism (A), porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism (B) and carotenoid biosynthesis (C) pathways and heat map of related genes"

Fig. 8

Starch and sucrose metabolism pathway and heat map of related genes"

Fig. 9

Phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and heat map of related genes"

Fig. 10

Glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway and heat map of related genes"

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