REVIEW article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
This article is part of the Research TopicSecondary Metabolites in Beverage Plant: Metabolism, Function, and RegulationView all 8 articles
Selenium in tea plant cultivation: Bioavailability, uptake, metabolism, and physiological regulation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Fruit and Tea, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China
- 2National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center, Beijing, China
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Selenium (Se) is a trace element essential for human health. Incorporating Se into the tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) cultivation has emerged as a cropping technology in the area of agriculture and food sciences. The production of Se-enriched tea is greatly influenced by Se bioavailability in tea garden soil, which in turn influences the Se assimilation, absorption, and transportation of tea plants. Recent studies reported that Se can regulate tea plant growth by altering soil microbes, thereby improving soil fertility and enhancing tolerance to abiotic stressors such as pesticide toxicity, fluoride toxicity, and temperature extremes. Selenium can modulate the secondary metabolism of tea and design Se-rich functional components, which determine the quality of Se-enriched tea. This review seeks to provide theoretical bases for optimizing Se management in tea gardens and the cultivation of Se-enriched tea.
Keywords: Selenium, Camellia sinensis, abiotic stress, Metabolic Regulation, Se-enriched tea
Received: 05 Oct 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 An, Mao, Huang, Leng and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yang Leng, leng-yang@agri.gov.cn
Xun Chen, chenxun2021@hbaas.com
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