Plant Studies

Silicon has been described as the "Backbone" of plant material.  This commonly overlooked mineral is a primary component for structural development of stem strength, plant height, leaf development, and overall production levels.  However, new studies reveal that Silicon also appears to make plants more resistant to fungus, insects, and drought conditions.  Silicon deficient soils lead to silicon deficient grains, grasses and produce.  A recent study shows that silicon is indeed depleted from soils in most agricultural areas.  Scroll down to review the growing collection of Silicon Plant Research.

Scroll down to review each Synopsis and Complete Article or Abstract

The Anomaly of Silicon in Plant Biology

University of California at Davis,  Emanuel Epstein, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources
Synopsis:  Silicon deprived plants are often weaker structurally, abnormal in growth, development, viability, and reproduction.  These are more susceptible to stress, disease, and insects.  Soils reveal that, despite common views, silicon is indeed depleted.  "Evidence is overwhelming that silicon should be included among the elements having a major bearing on plant life."

EFFECTS OF SILICON LEVELS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT

S.A. Abro, et al, Institute of Botany, University of Sindh, Pakistan
Synopsis: The role of silicon in the increased dry mass and yield, enhanced pollination, increased disease resistance in wheat production.  Silicon can alleviate imbalances between zinc and phosphorus supply and decrease toxic effects of aluminum in hydroponics. 

Silicon Induced Cell Wall Fortification of Rice Leaves

Sang Gyu Kim, Ki Woo Kim, Eun Woo Park, and Doil Choi  First and third authors: School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon 441-744, Korea; second author: National  Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management, Seoul National University, Korea; and fourth author: Korea Research
Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Taejon,  Korea.
Synopsis: Silicon is a factor influencing the degree of plant resistance to stress, fungus, and disease.  Silicon accumulation on leaf surface and in epidermal cell walls might limit fungal penetration and invasion by acting as a physical barrier. Silicon may enhance plant resistance by triggering local or systemic defense mechanisms in rice plants. Plant responses to silicon applications are of multicomponent nature and appear to be involved in a variety of biological phenomena of the plant. The functions of silicon in plant tissue layers could enhance our understanding of the nature of disease resistance mechanisms in plants.

Silicon's Organic Pool and Biological Cycle in Bamboo

College of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China)
Administrative Bureau of Wuyishan National Nature Reserve, Wuyishan, China)
Synopsis:  Silicon can improve efficiency of water use and decrease both biotic and abiotic stresses in plants and can also enhance plant tolerance of drought; this is attributed to increased selectivity in ion uptake by plant cells.  Also silicon can help plants recover from wounds and can also assist in the fixation and removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fix nitrogen in soils.

Silicon Nutrition and Sugarcane Production: A Review

Narayan K. Savant,a Gaspar H. Korndörfer,b2 Lawrence E. Datnoff ,c and George H. Snyderc    a 3/186 LoKmanya Nagar, Pune, India  b Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG 38400, Brazil - CNPq Scholarship c University of Florida, Everglades Res. and Educ.Center, Belle Glade, FL 33430, USA

Synopsis:  Agriculture activity tends to remove large quantities of Silicon from the soil.  Sugarcane is known to absorb more Si than any other mineral nutrient.  Some studies indicate that sugarcane yield responses to silicon soil supplementation may be associated with increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, such as disease and pest resistance, Aluminum,and Iron toxicity alleviation, increased Potassium availability, reduced lodging, improved leaf and stalk erectness, freeze resistance, and improvement in plant water economy.

Silicon in the Photosynthetic Lineages: Molecular Mechanisms for Uptake and Deposition

Thibaud Coradin1 • Julien Desclés2 • Guang-Zuo Luo2 • Pascal J. Lopez2*
1 Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris, CNRS-UMR 7574, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, 75005 France
2 Signalisation et Morphogenèse des Diatomées, CNRS-FRE 2910, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75005 Paris, France

Synopsis:  Most plant muticellular taxa and some marine unicellular groups readily accumulate Si and for some species it is even essential for growth. Recent renewal of interest about this trace element results from the increasing body of evidence of its implication in various abiotic and biotic stresses. Recent
researches have even started to examine the genetic and molecular basis of Si absorption and deposition pathways from both marine and terrestrial organisms. It was shown that Si is taken up as an uncharged molecule, silicic acid, and transporters have now been characterized in different plant species and cloned in some unicellular algae, i.e. phytoplankton.  Moreover, the Si-biomineralization process is also under investigation through the isolation and the characterization of several bio-organic compounds that may be directly involved in biogenic silica (or Silicon dioxide) formation. In parallel, the great potentiality of using Si biomineralization processes has recently been realized, for both plant biotechnology purposes and for the development of new biomimetic or “eco-friendly” approaches in chemistry and new materials design.