Silicon nutrition and sugarcane production: A review¹

Abstract

Silicon (Si) is one of the most abundant elements found in the earth's crust, but is mostly inert and only slightly soluble. Agriculture activity tends to remove large q uantities of Si from soil. Sugarcane is known to absorb more Si than any other mineral nutrient, accumulating approximately 380 kg ha -1 of Si, in a 12-month old crop. Sugarcane (plant growth and development) responses to silicon fertilization have been documented in some areas of the world, and applications on commercial fields are routine in certain areas. The reason for this plant response or yield increase is not fully understood, but several mechanisms have been proposed. Some studies indicate that sugarcane yield responses to silicon may be associated with induced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as disease and pest resistance, Al, Mn and Fe toxicity alleviation, increased P availability, reduced lodging, improved leaf and stalk erectness, freeze resistance, and improvement in plant water economy. This review covers the relationship of silicon to sugarcane crop production, including recommendations on how to best manage silicon in soils and plants, silicon interactions with others elements, and laboratory methodology for determining silicon in the soil, plant and fertilizer. In addition, a future research agenda for silicon in sugarcane is proposed.

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Phytolith Analysis: An Approach to Study the Deposition and Distribution Pattern of Silicon in Different Parts of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Plant

“…Silicon can also alleviate imbalance between zinc and phosphorus supply as well as decrease the toxic effect of aluminum in hydroponic culture in several species [3,9,44,56]. Similar applications of silicon have also been found in other cereals and dicotyledonous plants [11,25,41,48,53]. It is also reported that silicon improves nutrient balance in a wide variety of plant species [14,28,30].…”

“…Rachilla of the wheat plant also produced prickle hairs, fiber cell, dendriform phytoliths and epidermal cells (Table 1). In the last few decades the procedure of phytolith counts showed a great relevance [dendriform phytoliths (32,33), rod shaped phytolith 3 (34), hairs (35), epidermal cell (36)] and rachilla prickle hairs (37) fiber cell (38), dendriform phytoliths (39) and epidermal cells (40,41) in phytolith studies and has been used by many phytolith researchers [1,46]. We have also used this procedure in a fixed observed area of the slides and after counting we observed that the highest silicified cells were present in leaf blade followed by the awn, leaf sheath, lemma, rachilla and stem (Fig.…”

Effect of Silicon and Nitrogen nutrition on major pest and disease intensity in low land rice

“…Among the fertility levels, the T 1 treatment which did not receive any N or Si levels recorded the highest incidence of stem borer and dead hearts as well as leaf folder as evidenced by stem borer, dead hearts and leaf folder, compared to other treatments which received both N and Si. An increase in the level of N increased the incidence of stem borer, dead hearts and leaf folder; which of course is common for rice (Savant et al, 1999). However, when N was integrated with Si, the incidence was decreased.…”

Silicate fertilizer and irrigation depth in corn production

“…According to Savant et al (1999) the greater crop production promoted by silicates is due to its effect on plant architecture, making the leaves more erect, enhancing light gathering, which increases CO 2 absorption and reduces transpiration. Thus, silicate fertilization increases photosynthesis rate and provides greater water-use efficiency.…”