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Screening Maize Hybrids for Silicon Efficiency to Improve the Growth and Yield on Silicon Deficient Soils

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Abstract

Purpose

Silicon is a metalloid that hardly finds a place among the nutritional elixir required for plants. However, in recent times, silicon fertilizers have been gaining popularity for their role in healthy plant production. The present study is aimed at understanding the role of silicon on maize nutrition and identifying silicon efficient and inefficient genotypes for higher silicon uptake so as to make effective silicon fertilizer management.

Methods

A pot culture experiment was conducted for 40 days with three levels of Silicon (Si) viz., 0.0, 75 and 150 kg Si ha−1 and ten different hybrid maize genotypes viz., four TNAU hybrids (CO H(M) 6, CO H(M) 8, COH(M) 9, VaMH12014), four TNAU cultures ( CMH12- 586, CMH12-686, CMH14-716, CMH15-005) and two private hybrids (NK6240 and 900 M Gold). Soil and plant samples were drawn after the experimental period and analysed for Si availability, its content, uptake and silicon efficiency by different maize hybrids. Growth parameters and biomass production were also recorded to know the variability that exists among different maize hybrids for silicon fertilisation.

Results

Silicon fertilisation augmented in increasing the plant biomass as well as Si content, which further helped in identifying Silicon responsive maize genotypes. A linear increase in the biomass production of the maize hybrids and plant Silicon content were observed with the application of 150 kg Si ha−1. The genotype COH(M) 8 produced the highest shoot (8.40 to 9.35 g plant−1) and root biomass (3.79 to 3.98 g plant−1) at all levels of silicon application which was 20% increase over the inefficient NK 6240 (7.18 to 8.64 g and 2.42 to 2.75 g). Likewise, higher plant Si content was also observed in COH (M) 8 (0.89%) and lesser response was exhibited by NK6240 (0.58%) and CMH15-005 (0.60%). The Principal component analysis (PCA) using relative silicon uptake, silicon transportation and utilisation efficiency helped to identify three groups of genotypes having higher, moderate and least Silicon efficiency based on their responsiveness to silicon fertilisation.

Conclusions

Linear increase in growth and biomass production of maize hybrids were noticed up to the application of 150 kg Si ha−1. The hybrid maize genotypes differed in their Si content and uptake which may be attributed to their differential genetic potential. The response of COH (M) 8, CMH12-586 and VaMH12014 were highly prominent and are deemed to be Si-efficient and responsive genotypes for silicon fertilisation by absorbing and utilising more silicon for plant growth.

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Acknowledgements

These authors are thankful to the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore for providing the necessary facilities to carry out the research work.

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  1. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641003, India

    Varsha Vasudevan & Chitdeshwari Thiyagarajan

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  1. Varsha Vasudevan
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  2. Chitdeshwari Thiyagarajan
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Contributions

The study conception, design and material preparation were done by Dr T.Chitdeshwari. The data collection and analysis was performed by Ms Varsha. M.Sc. Scholar. The draft manuscript was written by Ms Varsha and edited by Dr T.Chitdeshwari and both the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chitdeshwari Thiyagarajan.

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Vasudevan, V., Thiyagarajan, C. Screening Maize Hybrids for Silicon Efficiency to Improve the Growth and Yield on Silicon Deficient Soils. Silicon 14, 9711–9720 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01700-z

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