Silicon associates with Fe(III) and Mn and, thus, reduces the pool of hydroxides and change the availability of Fe and Mn [2,49]. Silicon can reduce the impact of both abiotic and biotic stressors and it represents an essential component of a program designed to create a disease suppressive soil and stress resistant plants. Silicon may enhance soil fertility, improve disease and pest resistance, increase photosynthesis, improve plant architecture, regulate evapotranspiration, increase tolerance to toxic elements such as Fe and Mn, and reduce frost damage. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust and is found in significant quantities in the soil; however, silicon can only be taken up by the plant in the form of mono-silicic acid. Silicon is the second most abundant element in soils, the mineral substrate for most of the world's plant life. Silicon release to soil solution from weathering of silicate-containing minerals is rather slow and is governed by precipitation and neoformation of authigenic Si constituents, Si adsorption/desorption on various solid phases, uptake and assimilation by vegetation and microorganisms, preservation of stable Si forms in the profile, and addition from external atmospheric inputs (Cornelis et al., 2011). For the most part, monosilicic acid occurs in a weakly adsorbed state in the soil (13,37). The soil water, or the "soil solution," contains silicon, mainly as silicic acid, H4SiO4, at 0.1-0.6 mM--concentrations on the order of those of potassium, calcium, and other major plant nutrients, and well in excess of those of phosphate. Soils of the tropics and sub-tropics are typically acid and depleted of soluble sources of silicon (Si) due to weathering and leaching associated with high rainfall and temperatures. One of these nutrients is silicon so we looked at the effects this minor element might have on floriculture plants if it was added to a greenhouse substrate. Silicon is the most abundant element on earth after oxygen.Large amounts of silicon can be found in various minerals and it is abundant in oceans and nearly all other waters as silicic acid. Natural soil is rich in silicates and normally provides enough silicon to make plants happy. Silicon fertilization has been reported to result in increased soil exchange capacity, improved water and air regimes, transformation of P-containing minerals and formation of alumosilicates and heavy metal silicates.

Most dicots (broad leaf plants) take up small quantities of silicon and accumulate less than 0.5% in their tissue. Silicon (Si) is elemental silicon also known as the chemical element. Although sandy soils are silicon-rich, soluble silicon content is usually very low. The aim of our investigation was to obtain information about the effect of Si fertilization on physical and chemical soil properties. Silica, silicon... Function of Silicon in Plants. In this form silicon is an uncharged compound and is sensitive to leaching. Although years of research have focused on understanding the role

Silicon was deemed to be an “inessential” plant nutrient back in the 1860’s, when German soil scientists found they could grow plants in soilless solutions without any silicon.

silicon is a nutrient for which an enormous amount of literature examines the value of silicon fertilization in improving overall crop productivity and health. However, the abundance of silicon in soils is not an indication that sufficient supplies of soluble silicon are available for plant uptake. Abstract. The crust of the earth is largely composed of silicon that is found primarily as silicate minerals, secondary alumino silicates and various forms of silicon dioxide. In the surface layers of oceans silicon concentrations are 30 ppb, whereas deeper water layers may contain 2 ppm silicon. Forms of Silicon in Soil Soils generally contain from 50 to 400 g Si kg -1 of soil. Monosilicic and polysilicic acids are the principal soluble forms of silicon in soil (76).