Methods and extractants to evaluate silicon availability for sugarcane

Carlos Alexandre Costa Crusciol,Luís Reynaldo Ferracciú Alleoni,James Mabry Mccray,Otávio Bagiotto Rossato,João Arthur Antonangelo,Carlos Antonio Costa Do Nascimento,Adalton Mazetti Fernandes,Dorival Pires De Arruda

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19240-1

Carlos Alexandre Costa Crusciol, Luís Reynaldo Ferracciú Alleoni + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19240-1

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Abstract

The correct evaluation of silicon (Si) availability in different soil types is critical in defining the amount of Si to be supplied to crops. This study was carried out to evaluate two methods and five chemical Si extractants in clayey, sandy-loam, and sandy soils cultivated with sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids). Soluble Si was extracted using two extraction methods (conventional and microwave oven) and five Si extractants (CaCl2, deionized water, KCl, Na-acetate buffer (pH 4.0), and acetic acid). No single method and/or extractant adequately estimated the Si availability in the soils. Conventional extraction with KCl was no more effective than other methods in evaluating Si availability; however, it had less variation in estimating soluble Si between soils with different textural classes. In the clayey and sandy soils, the Na-acetate buffer (pH 4.0) and acetic acid were effective in evaluating the Si availability in the soil regardless of the extraction methods. The extraction with acetic acid using the microwave oven, however, overestimated the Si availability. In the sandy-loam soil, extraction with deionized water using the microwave oven method was more effective in estimating the Si availability in the soil than the other extraction methods.

Highlights

The correct evaluation of silicon (Si) availability in different soil types is critical in defining the amount of Si to be supplied to crops
Several extractants of soluble Si have been studied by various researchers to evaluate Si availability in soil; none has been effective in all types of soils because the amounts of Si extracted vary greatly depending on the solution used in the extraction process[23,24]
In all the texture classes, the microwave oven method extracted more Si from soil than the conventional method, except when the KCl and Na-acetate buffer extractants were used, especially in clayey soils (Fig. 1). In both extraction methods and in all soil textures, a higher Si content was obtained when the extraction was performed with acetic acid, especially in clayey soils (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

The correct evaluation of silicon (Si) availability in different soil types is critical in defining the amount of Si to be supplied to crops. This study was carried out to evaluate two methods and five chemical Si extractants in clayey, sandy-loam, and sandy soils cultivated with sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids). Conventional extraction with KCl was no more effective than other methods in evaluating Si availability; it had less variation in estimating soluble Si between soils with different textural classes. In the clayey and sandy soils, the Na-acetate buffer (pH 4.0) and acetic acid were effective in evaluating the Si availability in the soil regardless of the extraction methods. Several extractants of soluble Si have been studied by various researchers to evaluate Si availability in soil; none has been effective in all types of soils because the amounts of Si extracted vary greatly depending on the solution used in the extraction process[23,24]. The high mobility of Si in most soils is suggested because leaching of Si from soils and its transport in streams to the sea are important components of the biogeochemical Si cycling, such solubility decreases markedly with increasing pH, achieved, i.e., through liming application[15]

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