Fuente: PubMed "medicinal and aromatic plants" BMC Plant Biol. 2026 Jul 7. doi: 10.1186/s12870-026-09373-1. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Selenium (Se) acts as a vital stress ameliorant, significantly mitigating the negative impacts of environmental stressors. Chrysanthemum, a globally renowned flowering and landscaping plant, experiences substantial declines in growth and yield under water-deficit conditions. Consequently, this study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of foliar selenium application in alleviating the adverse effects of drought on the growth, flowering, and biochemical profiles of Dendranthema grandiflora (cv. 'Poornima White'). The research followed a split-plot design within a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. Main plots consisted of three soil water capacity (SWC) levels (100%, 80%, and 60%), while sub-plots received four selenium concentrations (Se0, Se100, Se150, and Se200). The experiment was conducted at a private nursery in Damanhour, Beheira Governorate, Egypt, during the 2024 and 2025 growing seasons.METHODS: The changes in biometric characteristics including plant height, plant fresh weight and plant dry weight under water-deficit stress with exogenous Se application were characterized at the bud initiation stage. Additionally, the flowering and yield traits such as time to flowering, length of stalk, diameter of flower, flower weight and number of inflorescences per plant were recorded at the flowering stage. Also, biochemical constituents e.g., chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, proline, GA3, ABA as well as contents of N, P and K were determined.RESULTS: Results indicated that water-deficit stress showed a notable decrease in various biometric, flowering and biochemical characteristics in chrysanthemum plants, and the deficiency was evident with the lowest SWC level (60%). Exogenous Se application as foliar spraying, especially at 200 mg/l markedly enhanced notably growth, flowering and biochemical traits in stressed or well-watered plants.CONCLUSIONS: Selenium (Se) supplementation exerts useful properties on drought-induced detrimental impacts in chrysanthemum plants, which improves various growth, flowering related traits and biochemical in stressed or well-watered plants, and the improvement was consistent with increasing selenium concentration from 100 mg/l Se up to 200 mg/l.PMID:42414879 | DOI:10.1186/s12870-026-09373-1