Discovery and Significance of Green and Selenium-Rich of Upland Rice in Xinfeng County, Jiangxi Province,China

Abstract Elemental selenium deficiency is considered as a global problem about the health of human that can be alleviated by daily selenium supplementation from selenium-rich foods. In order to discover some green selenium-enriched agricultural products, several samples including surface soil, upland rice and root soil collected from the camellia interplanting upland rice in Xinfeng County, Jiangxi Province were tested, analyzed for selenium and heavy metals elements, and evaluated their quality. The results show that the surface soil is strongly acidic in this area, the average selenium content grade is moderate, and the soil environmental geochemistry grade is clean. For the upland rice, it is found that the root-soil system is strong acid, the average selenium content grade is selenium-rich, and the soil environmental geochemistry grade is clean. Additionally, the vertical profile of the soil reveals that Cd, Hg, Cr, and organic matter exhibit an obvious enrichment trend on the surface, and the content of Se is positively correlated with the content of Cd, As, Hg, Cr, and organic matter respectively, while is negative with the content of Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb and pH respectively, which indicates that the upland rice is at risk of heavy metal pollution. Nervertheless, the upland rice grown in this area is green and selenium-rich, which suggests a good ability to repair the soil contaminated by Hg and Cd heavy metals through the upland rice.