Silicon is often considered as most under-rated nutrient and often , a forgotten nutrient , despite its multi-pronged role in fruit crops compared to other agronomic crops. Reported widely about its utility in combating a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses . How often , we consider silicon as a nutrient while formulating the fertilizer prescription for any fruit crop. There are number of other issues , that need an elaborate discussion with regard to silicon nutrition in fruit crops. I propose following questions to be addressed in this background:
# Whether silicon qualifies the criteria to be considered as an essential nutrient ?
# Whether silicon could be an effective ameliorant on acid soils where number of tropical and subtropical fruit crops are so extensively grown ?
# How does silicon behave in relation to other nutrients in balnced fertilization ?
# Relation between silicon and selenium , what is the basis ?
# What are the underlying mechanisms involved in offering an addition tolerance by silicon against heat and drought tolerance to plants?
# How does silicon behave in offering disease resistance to plants?
Thanks and kind regards
@ Anoop, Silicon comes under beneficial mineral elements group along with sodium, cobalt, selenium, aluminium, iodine and vanadium. Essentiality of silicon in the higher plants has been demonstrated so far only a few plant species but it has been claimed that omission of silicon in nutrient solutions amounts to be imposition of an atypical environmental stress (Epstein, 1993). The essentiality of silicon is well established for silicophile species and certain wetland grass species.Silicon is demonstrated to affect the stability of plants by inert deposition in lignified cell walls and modulating lignin biosynthesis.Silicon also showed to decrease mutual shading by improving leaf erectness, decreasing susceptibility of lodging, decreasing the incidence of infections with root parasites and pathogens and preventing iron and manganese toxicity.
Use of silicon (Si) in fruit crops provides protection against diseases, pests, drought stress, increases production and improves product quality.
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see the attached link
http://thebioscan.in/Journals_PDF/9132%20LALITHYA%20K%20A_2492a.pdf
Even in rice, stem borer incidence of is very less due to application of silicon. AS it the stem more harden.
Silicon nutrient enhances the plant's resistance to pests and diseases. It also alleviates abiotic stresses thus protecting the crops and enhancing the yield and produce quality.
Silicon helps improve plants' uptake of minerals. Plants require a sufficient supply of essential nutrients for natural growth and development. Silica can work wonders on your plants, protecting them from heat stress, water drought, pests, and even help pack on more fruit for your harvest. This just might be the missing supplement that you are looking for! Silica is used to reinforce plant cell walls in leaves, fruits/flowers, branches, and stalks. Silicon enhances growth and yield of all annual and vegetable crops, promotes upright growth, prevents lodging, promotes favorable exposure of leaves to the light, provides resistance to bacterial and fungal diseases and decrease some abiotic stress as temperatures. Silicon is taken up passively into plants in the form of silicic acid (H4SiO4), silica anions, or silicon-organic complexes. In rice, silicon has also been documented to be actively taken up into root systems. However, some plants may actually restrict silicon uptake. In soil, Si might affect the binding of the nutrient elements to soil particles making them more or less available for plant uptake. Silicon is known to reduce the soil sorption of P, especially at low pH, and, thus, increases the plant-available portion of P in the soil
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