review · Biology
Silicon is a quasi-essential nutrient for crops. While plants can survive without it, its absence can cause abnormalities in growth, reproduction, and development. When present, silicon accumulates on plant tissue surfaces, mitigating environmental stresses by boosting antioxidant activity and limiting the uptake of toxic soil pollutants. However, standard silicon fertilisers suffer from poor bioavailability. Silicon-based nanoparticles offer an alternative approach to improve nutrient uptake and support sustainable agricultural production. Both bulk silicon and nano-silicon formulations alter soil microbial colonies and biomass, positively influence the rhizosphere microbiome, and improve overall soil fertility. These materials also provide protective benefits against a range of plant pathogens and crop diseases, representing an important tool for strengthening crop resilience.
Traditional fertilisers often deliver nutrients inefficiently, leaving crops vulnerable to environmental stress and contamination. Using nanotechnology to deliver silicon provides a more bioavailable method to protect plants. By strengthening tissue surfaces, improving soil microbial health, and curbing disease, silicon-based nanoparticles offer a promising pathway to support sustainable crop yields and healthier agricultural soils without relying exclusively on conventional chemical inputs.
The material supports applications in nano-fertiliser manufacturing and crop-protection inputs for the agricultural and food production sectors. Because this abstract summarises a review of existing evidence, the technology is at an early research stage rather than ready for immediate deployment. Realising commercial value will require agrochemical developers to formulate scalable nano-silicon products that demonstrate superior bioavailability, pathogen resistance, and soil microbiome benefits in field settings.
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Silicon (Si) is considered a non-essential element similar to cadmium, arsenic, lead, etc., for plants, yet Si is beneficial to plant growth, so it is also referred to as a quasi-essential element (similar to aluminum, cobalt, sodium and selenium). An element is considered quasi-essential if it is not required by plants but its absence results in significant negative consequences or anomalies in plant growth, reproduction and development. Si is reported to reduce the negative impacts of different stresses in plants. The significant accumulation of Si on the plant tissue surface is primarily responsible for these positive influences in plants, such as increasing antioxidant activity while reducing soil pollutant absorption. Because of these advantageous properties, the application of Si-based nanoparticles (Si-NPs) in agricultural and food production has received a great deal of interest. Furthermore, conventional Si fertilizers are reported to have low bioavailability; therefore, the development and implementation of nano-Si fertilizers with high bioavailability could be crucial for viable agricultural production. Thus, in this context, the objectives of this review are to summarize the effects of both Si and Si-NPs on soil microbes, soil properties, plant growth and various plant pathogens and diseases. Si-NPs and Si are reported to change the microbial colonies and biomass, could influence rhizospheric microbes and biomass content and are able to improve soil fertility.
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DOI: 10.3390/biology10080791
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