Silicon in Sustainable Agriculture: Facing Abiotic and Biotic Stress in Crops
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 548
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant pathology; induced resistance; mineral nutrition; photosynthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant pathology; induced resistance; mineral nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Numerous reviews and hundreds of refereed articles have been pub-lished on the effects of silicon (Si) on abiotic and biotic stress and overall plant growth and development. The science of silicon is well-documented and comprehensive. However, despite this robust body of information, Si is still not routinely used to alleviate plant stress or to promote plant growth and development.
It is well known that plants with higher root or shoot Si concentrations are less prone to pest attacks and exhibit enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, low temperature, and metal toxicity. However, the most re-markable effect of Si is its induced reduction in the intensities of several seed-borne, soilborne, and foliar diseases in many economically im-portant crops caused by biotrophic, hemibiotrophic, and necrotrophic plant pathogens. The reduction in disease symptom expression is due to the effect of Si on some components of host resistance, including the incubation period, lesion size, and lesion number. The mechanical barrier formed by the polymerization of Si beneath the cuticle and in the cell walls was the first proposed hypothesis to explain how this element reduced the severity of plant diseases. However, new insights have revealed that many plant species supplied with Si have potenti-ated phenylpropanoid and terpenoid pathways, faster and stronger transcription of defense genes, and higher activities of defense en-zymes. Photosynthesis and the antioxidant system are also improved in Si-supplemented plants. Many issues related to using Si in agriculture must be resolved if use of this element becomes standard practice to improve agronomic and horticultural crop production and plant health.
In this Special Issue, we will draw the scientific community’s attention to the information available about using Si for more sustainable agri-culture, especially in a climate change scenario.
Prof. Dr. Fabrício Ávila Rodrigues
Dr. Leandro J. Dallagnol
Prof. Dr. Mônica Sartori Camargo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- plant nutrition
- induced resistance
- resilient crops
- plant diseases
- pests
- photosynthesis
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