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Effect of Silicon and Nitrogen Nutrition on Pest and Disease Intensity in Rice



Author(s)

Kasthuri Rajamani, Bhupal Raj Gunti, Shashi Vemuri and Ramesh Bellamkonda

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DOI:10.17265/2161-6256/2013.07A.007

Nutrition management is the most important for high yield production but it may affect the response of rice plants to pest and diseases due to the change of microclimate under rice plant canopy. The knowledge of nutrition management and its relation with pest and diseases are basis for setting up a high yield production system. Most of the pest and disease control procedures used by farmers can be considered as soil fertility management and these nutrition practices can have impact on the physiological susceptibility of crop plants to pest and diseases by affecting the plant resistance. Silicon content of plants is particularly effective against pest and diseases in rice and certain rice genotypes are more efficient accumulators of silicon, thus making them more resistant. In the absence of natural heritable resistance in rice varieties, resistance could be induced by alternate strategies to suppress certain pest and pathogens. Hence experiments were carried out in two stages during kharif 2010 and 2011 to assess the concentration of silicon in the index leaves of rice plant utilizing 133 varieties in four locations. The silica content of promising varieties ranged from 1.50% to 3.20%, 1.60% to 3.15%, 1.49% to 3.20% and 1.55% to 3.06% with a mean values of 2.50%, 2.48%, 2.51% and 2.43% at Jagtial, Warangal, Rajendranagar and Rudrur centres of Telangana region and not much variation in mean silica content in index leaves at different places. The overall yield from four locations ranged from 2,653 kg/ha to 6,860 kg/ha with a mean of 5,624 kg/ha. The yields recorded at Jagtial, Warangal, Rajendranagar and Rudrur centres ranged from 2,886 to 7,198, 2,653 to 6,831, 2,653 to 6,860 and 4,399 to 5,950 kg/ha, respectively. The lowest mean yield 5,069 kg/ha was noticed at Rudrur and the highest yield 5,940 kg/ha was found at Warangal. The variations in yields might be due to genotypic variations and also due to variations in climatic conditions of different locations.

Nutrition management, conventional rice, silicon, rice genotypes, pest and diseases.