Abstract
In this study, a pot experiment was designed to elucidate the effect of varying dosages of silicon (Si) fertilizer application in Si-deficient and enriched paddy soils on rice phytolith and carbon (C) bio-sequestration within phytoliths (PhytOC). The maximum Si fertilizer dosage treatment (XG3) in the Si-deficit paddy soil resulted in an increase in the rice phytolith content by 100.77% in the stem, 29.46% in the sheath and 36.84% in the leaf compared to treatment without Si fertilizer treatment (CK). However, the maximum Si fertilizer dosage treatment (WG3) in the Si -enriched soil increased the rice phytolith content by only 32.83% in the stem, 27.01% in the sheath and 32.06% in the leaf. Overall, Si fertilizer application significantly (p < 0.05) increased the content of the rice phytoliths in the stem, leaf and sheath in both the Si-deficient and enriched paddy soils, and the statistical results showed a positive correlation between the amount of Si fertilizer applied and the rice phytolith content, with correlation coefficients of 0.998 (p < 0.01) in the Si-deficient soil and 0.952 (p < 0.05) in the Si-enriched soil. In addition, the existence of phytoliths in the stem, leaf, and sheath of rice and its content in the Si-enriched soil were markedly higher than that in the Si-deficient soil. Therefore, Si fertilizer application helped to improve the phytolith content of the rice plant.
Highlights
Phytoliths derive from bio-mineralization in plants and usually take the shape of the plant cell or cell spatium where Si is deposited
With an increase in the application of the Si fertilizer dosages, the content of the phytoliths in the rice organs was increased in the Si-deficient red paddy soil (Table 2)
We showed that Si fertilizer application could promote the phytolith content and biomass of rice plants and further improve the estimated PhytOC
Summary
Phytoliths derive from bio-mineralization in plants and usually take the shape of the plant cell or cell spatium where Si is deposited. Most of the Si taken up by rice is removed from a field when the rice straw is removed, and the loss of SiO2 is from 75 to 130 kg hm−2 every production season (Zhang et al, 2014). Such large losses of Si make it difficult to maintain the balance of Si in soils from natural weathering alone. 73% of paddy soils in Zhejiang Province and approximately 60% in Henan Province are Si-deficient (Cai, 2015). Some research has shown that Si fertilizer application can significantly increase the biomass of rice (Wu et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2014)
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