Silicon content in rice seedlings to protect rice blast fungus at the nursery stage

Abstract

To control rice blast effectively at the nursery stage, the absolute SiO2 content necessary for rice plants to resist blast disease was investigated using various rice cultivars and soils. Nine rice cultivars with different complete resistance genes and different degrees of partial resistance were grown on nursery soils amended with silica gel at different rates to change the SiO2 content of rice plant. The rice seedlings were then inoculated 28 days after sowing with Pyricularia grisea to estimate their blast resistance. In all rice cultivars, the number of lesions was significantly reduced when SiO2 content increased in the rice seedling; lesions were reduced to 5%–20% of the number on the seedlings grown in soil without silica gel when the seedling SiO2 content reached 5%. Additionally, the susceptibility to blast disease of rice seedlings grown on eight soils collected from different districts, with varying amounts of silica gel, was compared. The number of lesions decreased significantly when the SiO2 content in the seedlings reached 5%. These results suggest that SiO2 content of at least 5% in the rice plant can control this disease at the nursery stage under any conditions.