Abstract
Silicon is not considered an essential element for plant development and growth, but its absorption brings several benefits to some crops, especially rice, by increasing cellular wall thickness, providing mechanical resistance to the penetration of fungi, improving the opening angle of leaves and making them more erect, decreasing self-shading and increasing resistance to lodging, especially under high nitrogen rates. To evaluate the effects of nitrogen and silicon fertilization on vegetative and yield components, plant height, and yield of rice cultivar IAC 202, an experiment was carried out combining three nitrogen rates (5, 75 and 150 mg N kg-1 soil) applied as urea, and four silicon rates (0, 200, 400 and 600 mg SiO2 kg-1 soil) applied as calcium silicate. Trial was set up in a completely randomized design 3 ´ 4 factorial scheme, (N = 5). Nitrogen fertilization increased the number of stems and panicles per square meter and the total number of spikelets, reflecting on grain productivity. Excessive tillering caused by inadequate nitrogen fertilization reduced the percentage of fertile stalks, spikelet fertility and grain mass. Silicon fertilization reduced the number of blank spikelets per panicles and increased grain mass, but did not affect grain productivity.
Highlights
Rice is a staple food in the diet of the Brazilian population and is produced throughout the country, under different conditions and production systems
Silicon is not considered an essential element for plant development and growth, but its absorption brings several benefits to some crops, especially rice, by increasing cellular wall thickness, providing mechanical resistance to the penetration of fungi, improving the opening angle of leaves and making them more erect, decreasing self-shading and increasing resistance to lodging, especially under high nitrogen rates
The search for new technologies that will enable the expansion of the producing area as well as productivity has featured the use of silicon fertilization in rice crops as a promising alternative
Summary
Rice is a staple food in the diet of the Brazilian population and is produced throughout the country, under different conditions and production systems. With regard to the number of panicles, results found in the literature are contradictory: Takahashi (1995) found an increase for this trait, while Ma et al (1989), Deren et al (1994) and Carvalho (2000) did not observe significant increases. This demonstrates that the element is essential, from an agronomic standpoint, to increase and/or provide sustainable yields of rice crop (Barbosa Filho et al, 2000)
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