Exogenous Silicon Application Improves Growth and Morpho-Physiological Properties of Rice

Abstract

Rice covers most of the arable land in coastal region of Bangladesh during wet season; where silicon (Si) application has been proposed to improve growth and morpho-physiological properties of rice. The purpose of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of Si on the growth, biomass yield and morpho-physiological properties of rice. The experiment was established at the net house of the Department of Soil Science of Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh during wet season of 2021. The single factor completely randomized design was employed in the experiment having replicated thrice. There were eight treatments with different doses of silicon e.g. 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg Si kg-1 soil. The source of Si was calcium silicate and the test rice variety was BRRI dhan73. The tested parameters including plant height, tillers per hill, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, root volume, leaf area index, shoot Si content, root Si content, shoot Si uptake, root Si uptake, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll content enhanced progressively with increasing Si doses up to 100 mg Si kg-1 soil dose, beyond this level increasing Si doses had no significant improvement of the tested parameters. Si application significantly reduced leaf angle of rice which facilitate plants to be more erect and stronger. Based on the growth, biomass yield and Si uptake, 100 mg Si kg-1 soil was found as the optimum silicon dose to apply for growing rice.