Abstract

Amartya Dhoni, Salman E. Ray and Rajiv Dhyan Rushdie

A pot experiment was conducted in 2012 in the greenhouse of the Anand Agricultural University Anand Gujarat, India. Treatments were arranged in a factorial completely randomized complete design with silicon factor at four levels (0, 100, 200 and 300 ppm) with three replicates. Indian improved and high - yielding variety Gurajari was used. The Si application up to 200 mg kg-1 soil significantly increased grain and straw yields of rice over the control under low (< 25 mg Si kg-1 soil) and medium (25 - 50 mg Si kg-1 soil) category soils, while it was up to 100 mg Si kg -1 soil in high category soils. The soil, grain and straw samples were analyzed for their Si, P, K, S and Na content at harvest. The Si content in grain ranged from 1.77 to 2.69% in untreated plots, whereas in treating plots, it ranged from 1.85 to 3.40%. The average value of Si content in straw was 7.78, 7.46 and 7.82% in low, medium and high category soils, respectively.