Silicon Supplementation by Rice Hull Leachate on the Growth, Yield, Fruit Parameters and Anthracnose Disease Resistance of Capsicum ‘MuriaF1’

Abstract

Silicon has prooven beneficial in growth, yield and disease resistance of plants. Currently, the differentchemical sources; sodium silicate, potassium silicate and calcium silicate have been used to supply Si forplants. However, rice hull is one of the natural sources of Si which has not properly utilized. It has beenreported that 5 g of rice hull leach 40 ppm of soluble Si in a week of soaking period. Thus, this research wasconducted to investigate the effect of rice hull leachate as a Si source, on growth, yield and fruit parametersand also disease resistance of hydroponically grown Capsicum annum L. ‘Muria F1’. Leaching studies wereconducted to determine the optimum level of Si leached by rice hull, by soaking them in different time periods(days). This leachate was incorporated to the plants grown in hydroponic media supplemented with twodifferent nutrient solutions i.e Nutrient formula (NF) and Albert solution.The growth, yield and fruit qualityparameters were measured and the resistance against anthracnose disease was assessed by artificialinoculation of fruits with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and measuring the lesion area. Capsicum plantsgrown in rice hull leachate with either nutrient solution showed significant increase in, shoot length (>12%),number of leaves (>27%), leaf area (>42%) fruit length (>12%), fruit fresh weight (>37%) and yield(>44%) and also a significant reduction of anthracnose disease (>43%) compared to control. The resultsrevealed that rice hull leachate could be used as a low cost silicon source in hydroponic media to enhanceperformance of Capsicum cv. Muria F1. Keywords: Rice hull, Capsicum annum L., silicon, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, hydroponic.