Effect of calcium silicate on growth and dry matter yield of Chloris gayana and Sorghum sudanense under two soil water regimes

Abstract

The effects of five rates [0 (control), 1, 2, 4 and 6 Mg ha )1 ] of calcium silicate on the growth and water consumption by rhodes grass (Chloris gayana Kunth) and sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense Piper) under wet and dry soil water regimes (60 g and 30 g H 2 O kg )1 soil respectively) were evaluated in a pot experiment. The effect of the application of silicate on plant biomass was similar to that of the control. However, the shoot and root dry mass varied significantly (P < 0.001) according to the soil water regime and plant species. During the first cut, the shoot dry mass was 5.7 g per pot under the wet soil moisture regime, significantly exceeding that under the dry soil water regime proportionately by 0.68. For sudan grass, the shoot dry mass varied from 3.6 g per pot in the control to 4.3 g per pot in the treatment that received 6 Mg ha )1 of calcium silicate. Plant water demand decreased as the rate of calcium silicate application increased, suggesting that an application of calcium silicate could reduce drought stress and enhance water economy. For the soil under study, the reduction in plant water demand represents a water saving ranging from 0.076 to nearly 0.20.

Silicon effects on antioxidative enzymes and lipid peroxidation in leaves and roots of peanut under aluminum stress

“…The alleviating effects of silicon on stresses like diseases, drought, salinity, heavy metals, UV-B radiation, etc. have been intensively studied (Peaslee and Frink 1969;Ma 2004;Eneji et al 2005;Liang et al 2007;Kaya et al 2009;Shen et al 2009Shen et al , 2010a. Aluminium accumulation in the stressed peanut was greatest in the root, and less in the stem and leaf.…”

“…Its beneficial effects on plant growth have been widely evidenced, especially for plants subjected to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as diseases, pests, drought, salinity, cold, heavy metals, UV-B radiation and nutrient imbalance (Epstein 1999;Ma 2004;Eneji et al 2005;Liang et al 2007;Kaya et al 2009;Shen et al 2009Shen et al , 2010a. Silicon-mediated Al toxicity has been reported in several plant species, such as tomato (Peaslee and Frink 1969), sorghum (Hodson and Sangster 1993), barley (Hammond et al 1995), wheat (Cocker et al 1998) and maize (Kidd et al 2001;Wang et al 2004).…”

Benefits of plant silicon for crops: a review

“…Wheat plants subjected to drought and treated with Si maintained higher stomatal conductance, relative water content, and water potential than non-treated plants. Besides, leaves were larger and thicker, thereby limiting the loss of water through transpiration (Gong et al 2003;Hattori et al 2005) and reducing water consumption (Eneji et al 2005). Along the same line, in the case of rice, Si increased resistance to typhoons (Ma et al 2001b), probably because of the rigidity gained by the silicification of shoots.…”

“…Indeed, repeated crop exports can reduce the concentration of potentially available Si present as phytoliths to the extent that Si fertilization is necessary (Datnoff and Rodrigues 2005;Eneji et al 2005;Meunier et al 2008;Savant et al 1997a) because a fraction of plant Si does not return to the soil. For example, Desplanques et al (2006) showed that if we consider amorphous silica as the only source of Si for plants, the stock of available Si from a rice field of Camargue (France) would be exhausted after 5 years of cultivation.…”

Silicon distribution in meadow steppe and typical steppe of northern China and its implications for phytolith carbon sequestration

“…In plant tissues, Si is always coupled with other elements and immobilized by biomineralization as phytoliths (plant opals) in cell wall, cell lumen and intercellular spaces (Parr & Sullivan, ; Prychid, Rudall, & Gregory, ; Song, Liu, et al., 2012; Song, Wang, et al., 2012) or deposited as a Si double layer beneath the cuticle (Ma & Yamaji, ; Schaller, Brackhage, Bäucker, & Dudel, ; Schaller et al., ). Deposition of Si in plant tissues can improve plant structural integrity (Epstein, ; Hodson, White, Mead, & Broadley, ) and increase plant tolerance to diseases (Cherif & Belanger, ; Kanto, Maekawa, & Aino, ), drought (Eneji et al., ) and metal toxicities (Richmond & Sussman, ; Shi et al., ).…”