Production of functional food with high levels of selenium (Se) and iodine (I) obtained via plant biofortification shows significant difficulties due to the complex interaction between the two elements. Taking into account the known beneficial effect of silicon (Si) on plant growth and development, single and joint foliar biofortification of chervil plants with potassium iodide (150 mg L−1) and sodium selenate (10 mg L−1) was carried out in a pot experiment with and without Si nanoparticles foliar supplementation. Compared to control plants, nano-Si (14 mg L−1) increased shoot biomass in all treatments: by 4.8 times with Si; by 2.8 times with I + Si; by 5.6 times with Se + Si; by 4.0 times with I + Se + Si. The correspondent increases in root biomass were 4.5, 8.7, 13.3 and 10.0 times, respectively. The growth stimulation effect of Se, I and I + Se treatments resulted in a 2.7, 3.5 and 3.6 times increase for chervil shoots and 1.6, 3.1 and 8.6 times for roots, respectively. Nano-Si improved I biofortification levels by twice, while I and Se enhanced the plant content of each other. All treatments decreased nitrate levels, compared to control, and increased the photopigment accumulation. Improvement of total antioxidant activity and phenolic content was recorded only under the joint application of Se + I + Si. Foliar nano-Si treatment affected other element content in plants: decreased Na+ accumulation in single and joint supplementation with Se and I, restored Fe, Mn and Cr amount compared to the decreased levels recorded in separately Se and I fortified plants and promoted Al accumulation both with or without Se and I biofortification. The results of this research suggest high prospects of foliar nano-Si supply for enhancing both growth and joint I/Se biofortification of chervil.

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A complex study of the hydrogen reduction of nanosized iron hydroxide Fe(OH) 3 at 400°C was performed. It was shown that, during the reduction of Fe(OH) 3 to iron metal α Fe, intermediate compounds such as Fe(OH) 2 , α FeOOH, β FeOOH, γ FeOOH, δ FeOOH, and FeO are formed along with stable iron oxides α Fe 2 O 3 , γ Fe 2 O 3 , and Fe 3 O 4 . A scheme of chemical and structural transformations that occur in the reduction of nanosized Fe(OH) 3 is presented. The scheme takes into account the possibility of the bifurcation mechanism of reaction development.

Accumulation and translocation intensity of selenium nanoparticles by natural selenium accumulators-perennial onions-is established and a decrease of these parameters is demonstrated in a sequence: Se(+6) > Se(0) > Se(+4).

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