Mitigation of Salinity Stress in Rice through Zinc Silicate Application

Abstract

Pakistan is an agricultural country with massive natural resources. Rice is among few of the vital crops in Pakistan in terms of production, consumption, area under growth and export. Silicon (Si) is ranked second by its presence in soil. Si has not yet been classified as a essential nutrient for plants; although it has shown to be beneficial for plant development. Crop production is seriously affected by salinity worldwide. This research was performed in the research zone of Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences during the summer, 2018 in College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan. In the present study growth response of rice under normal and saline soil conditions was checked using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) under divided plot arrangements with nine treatments and three replications was used. Rice plants were grown in plots having normal soil (EC = 2.32 dS/m) and salty soil (4.93 dS/m). Si as phosphate industry waste was applied @ 0, 50 and 100 μg Si/g soil. Results showed that application of Sireduced the adverse impact of salinity and significantly enhanced the growth of rice plant. Maximum height of rice plant (106 cm), fertile tillers number per spike (6), 1000-grain weight (21.76 g), shoot fresh biomass (25.62 g) and shoot dry matter (12.86 g) were found under saline environment when maximum concentration of Si was applied i.e. 100 μg Si/g and least values were obtained when no Si was applied. Thus, application of Si as higher concentration (100 μg Si/g soil) proved superior to mitigate harmful effects of salts on rice plants.