Silicon Improved Water Stress Tolerance in Rice Genotypes

Rice is an important cereal crop, is mostly grown as a staple food in developing nations. One of the main causes restricting rice productivity is drought, which has a detrimental effect on global food security. Silicon increases antioxidant activity and lessens plant oxidative damage. In the current study, eight rice cultivars were subjected to foliar silicon spray to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing water stress. The plants were foliar sprayed with silicon under well-watered and drought-stressed circumstances. The collected data showed that drought stress significantly reduced physiological parameters, growth, and yield. In comparison with control, silicon application (T2) has increased LAI by 50.13%, RWC by 0.24%, total dry matter by 18.86%, productive tiller number by 30%, number of panicles m-2 by 26.10%, number of grains panicle-1 by 24.60%, test weight by 29.26% and grain yield by 10.60%; water stress alone (T3) reduced LAI by 38.06%, RWC by 21.02%, total dry matter by 38.88%, productive tiller number by 30%, number of panicles m-2 by 33.45%, number of grains panicle-1 by 42.85%, test weight by 34.87% and grain yield by 40.88%; while silicon + water stress (T4) reduced LAI by 3.41%, RWC by 16.89%, total dry matter by 8.45%, productive tiller number 0.00%, number of panicles m-2 by 13.97%, number of grains panicle-1 by 18.25%, test weight by 24.50% and grain yield by 19.24% only. Overall, silicon application has ameliorated the negative impacts of drought stress on rice and improved the growth, physiological traits and yield under both well-watered and water stress conditions. To increase the quality of the yield and to generate rice cultivars that can withstand drought stress, silicon should be incorporated into breeding programmes.