Silicon significance in crop production: Special consideration to rice: An overview

Elemental silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust after oxygen, which is mainly composed of silicates. Si is not considered essential nutrient for plant growth and development, however, increasing evidences in the literature shows that this metalloid is beneficial to plants, especially under different stress conditions. However, silicon is now comprises important place in the group of beneficial plant nutrient and comes with cobalt, sodium and vanadium, many growers already include it in their crop fertility programs.Silicon plays a crucial role in reinforcing the plant’s cell wall and it is speculated that it enable the plants to increased resistance against pests and diseases, increased tolerance to drought and heavy metals, as well as increasing both crop quality and yields..The amount of Si present in soils varies with the type of soils, climatic conditions, nature of rocks and minerals forming soils etc. The prevailing form in soil solutions is mono silicic acid Si(OH)4, which is in equilibrium with quartz (SiO2) and the concentrations in the soil solution are usually ranging from 14 to 20 mg l-1. The crops like rice and sugarcane are known as silicon accumulator and having special significance as well as crops benefited from silicon nutrition.