Role of Silicon in Sustainable Fruit Production under Stress Conditions: A Review

Abstract

Silicon is a beneficial element as it can significantly improve the growth, yield and quality of fruit crops through silicon-enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Mechanisms involved in alleviation of abiotic and biotic stresses are stimulation of antioxidant system in plants, complexation or co-precipitation of toxic metal ions with Si, immobilization of toxic metal ions, exclude uptake of toxic metal ions and vacuolar compartmentation of metal ions. The ignorance of plant physiologists is because of the visible symptoms of either Si deficiency or toxicity are not apparent and because of the abundance of the element in nature. Whereas, repeated cropping and the constant application of chemical fertilizers such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium have depleted the amount of Si that is available to plants in the soil. Awareness of Si deficiency in soil is now being recognized as a limiting factor for crop production and application of silicon fertilizer is practised worldwide, however there is limited case study regarding use of silicon fertilizer in our country despite its many advantages.