Silicon Supplements Potentially Reduce the Sheath Blight Incidence and Severity in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Sheath Blight (ShB) disease causes up to 50% yield losses of rice depending on severity. Silicon (Si) is a beneficial nutrient for rice having the ability to protect against diseases. So, a pot experiment was carried out at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Headquarters Farm, Mymensingh from July to November 2021 with artificial inoculation of Rhizoctonia solani to study the effect of different Si supplements and their doses on rice ShB incidence and severity. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The treatments were T0 (without Si), T1 (K2SiO3 2 mM), T2 (K2SiO3 4 mM), T3 (K2SiO3 6 mM), T4 (CaSiO3 2 mM), T5 (CaSiO3 4 mM), T6 (CaSiO3 6 mM), T7 (MgSiO3 2 mM), T8 (MgSiO3 4 mM), and T9 (MgSiO3 6 mM), respectively. The application of different Si supplements showed a significant positive effect on the growth, yield contributing characters, and yield of rice. The highest yield was found at T6 treatment. Disease incidence and severity matrix were significantly reduced due to the application of different Si supplements. The minimum disease incidence and severity matrix were found at T6 treatment. The maximum disease incidence and severity matrix reduction was 35.27% and 54.3% at T6 treatment over control which was identical to T3, T7, and T8, respectively. The overall disease incidence and severity matrix reduction over control was 24.68% and 35.59%. Again, the highest nutrient concentration was found in different Si supplement treatments over control. Overall, CaSiO3 showed the higher performance than K2SiO3 and MgSiO3. So, the application of CaSiO3 6 mM may be an advisable option for the management of ShB disease of rice.