silicon-amendment
Silicon amendment involves supplementing soil or growth media with plant-available silicon, typically as silicate compounds, to enhance plant growth and resilience. This practice matters because silicon deposition in plant tissues can strengthen cell walls, improve structural rigidity, and boost resistance to biotic stresses like pests and pathogens as well as abiotic stresses such as drought and metal toxicity. Researchers study silicon amendment to better understand its role in activating plant defense pathways and improving overall crop productivity under challenging environmental conditions.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-07-07
Adding silicon to the soil can protect pepper plants from a natural toxin they produce themselves during intensive farming, restoring growth, photosynthesis, and fruit yield to near-normal levels.
1 mM silicon treatment increased plant height by 53.4%, stem diameter by 16.8%, and leaf number by 35.3% under phthalic acid stress
1.5 mM silicon reversed photosynthetic suppression, increasing net photosynthetic rate by 381.0% and chlorophyll content by 25.8%
Field trials confirmed 1 mM silicon restored pepper yield to control levels, improved fruit quality, and reduced disease-like symptom incidence