*2.3. Effect of Selenium on Blossom-End Rot*

A statistical analysis of data relating to blossom-end rot highlights that the biofortification with selenium at IG phase, at both concentrations, significantly reduced the incidence of this rot, but only in fruit of the second truss (Table 4).

Blossom-end rot is believed to be caused by a calcium imbalance within the plant, but in our trial, the selenium treatment did not increase the calcium content in fruit. Factors other than Se-concentration and/or Ca content should thus be considered in terms of the incidence of this physiological disorder.


**Table 2.** Macro- and microelements concentration (mg kg–1) in tomato fruit of the first truss treated with sodium selenate (Na2SeO<sup>4</sup> ) at different concentrations of Se at FL and fruit IG stages.

Significance is as follows: ns, not significant; \*\* significant at 1%; \*\*\* significant at 0.1%. Different letters in each column correspond to significantly different values for *p* < 0.05 according to the LSD (least significant difference) test.

**Table 3.** Macro and microelements concentration (mg kg–1) in tomato fruit of the second truss treated with sodium selenate (Na2SeO<sup>4</sup> ) at different concentrations of Se at FL and fruit IG stages.


Significance is as follows: ns, not significant; \* significant at 5%; \*\* significant at 1%; \*\*\* significant at 0.1%. Different letters in each column correspond to significantly different values for *p* < 0.05 according to the LSD (least significant difference) test.

> **Table 4.** Incidence of blossom-end rot on fruits of plants treated with sodium selenate (Na2SeO<sup>4</sup> ), at different selenium concentrations and distributed at FL and fruit IG stages.


Significance is as follows: ns, not significant; \* significant at 5%. Different letters in each column correspond to significantly different values for *p* < 0.05 according to the LSD (least significant difference) test.
