| Title |
Potential of Silica Sources Including Fly Ash as Green Technology Inputs to Induce Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Crop Plants: Overview |
| ID_Doc |
15934 |
| Authors |
Sithanantham, S; Prabakaran, M; Narayanasamy, P |
| Title |
Potential of Silica Sources Including Fly Ash as Green Technology Inputs to Induce Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Crop Plants: Overview |
| Year |
2020 |
| Published |
|
| Abstract |
Naturally occurring silica source materials, including fly ash, when developed as suitable silica source formulations, can be utilised as green technologies for fortifying the target crop cultivars with induced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Silica sources/products availed from natural or biological sources may have added advantage in organic-certified crop production systems. The potential for utility of applied silica for induced resistance to biotic stresses appears more promising in monocot crops like rice and sugarcane, since they are silica-hungry. There is adequate evidence of silica content in target tissues being associated with genetic variation for host plant resistance to pests in rice and sugarcane. Since farmers tend to select and adopt crop varieties mostly for agronomic attributes like higher yield and crop duration, there is scope for fortifying them with such applied silica by minimising the losses caused by biotic stresses like pests and diseases among such agronomic ally promising and locally popular crop varieties. The major mechanisms by which resistance to biotic stresses like insect pests and diseases could be induced by applied silica include anatomical changes like enhanced silica deposition in the target tissues in epidermal layer as improved structural barrier for their entry and/or biochemical changes due to modifications in metabolic functions including the jasmine acid pathway. Adequate knowledge base is available on the scope for such applied silica products in also countering abiotic stresses such as drought and lodging tendency. There is good scope for locally optimising the application regime of such silica products so to maximise the cost-effectiveness. The results of recent collaborative R&D in sugarcane against borer pests in India are illustrated as case study. The scope for public-private R&D partnership targeting the formulation and market availability of such silica source products as potential components of evergreen revolution in India is indicated. Multidisciplinary and inter-institutional R&D collaboration is reckoned as the promising strategy. |
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