Ameliorative role of Silicon on Osmoprotectants, Antioxidant Enzymes and Growth of Maize Grown Under Alkaline Stress

Abstract Purpose Maize is grown under a wide spectrum of soil and climatic conditions. Maize is moderately sensitive to salt stress and response of maize under alkaline stress is scanty. Further, silicon is known to protect crops from abiotic stress. Hence, a pot experiment was conducted to study the mechanism on the effect of silicon on maize grown in alkaline stress Methods Maize CO 8 was grown in soil treated with four levels of alkaline stress (0, 25, 50, 75 mM) created through addition of sodium carbonate and three levels of silicon (0,100 and 150 kg ha− 1) applied to root through sodium meta silicate. The experiment was conducted in factorial CRD with three replications. Results Alkaline stress at graded levels caused reduction in growth (5 to 16%), dry weight (28 to 59%) and relative water content (5 to 23%). But electrolyte leakage (6 to 49%), proline (26 to 62%), phenol (8 to 44%), protein (6 to 19%), anti-oxidant systems viz., peroxidase (30 to 52%), SOD (4 to 16%) and catalase activities (32 to 127%) increased with increase in alkaline stress level. Soil application of silicon at different levels improved growth ( 5 to 10%) and dry weight (17 to 30%) of maize, relative water content (6 to 12%) and antioxidant enzymes ( 25 to 52%), water soluble protein ( 7 to10%), phenol ( 10 to 18%) while reduced electrolyte leakage( 15 to 25%) and proline( 17 to 29%). Conclusions It is evident from the study that root supplementation of silicon improved the growth and dry weight of maize crop grown in alkaline stress soil through its action on antioxidant systems and maximum effect was evident with 150 kg Si/ha