Effect of silicon on early growth and yields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
Silicon is the second most abundant element in soils, the mineral substrate for most of the world s plant life (Epstein, 1994).Since Sommer (1926) demonstrated the favorable effect of Si on rice growth, intensive studies on the essentiality of Si for plants have been undertaken throughout the world.Although the essentiality of Si for plant growth has not yet been established (Epstein, 1994), there is sufficient evidence to suggest that it is an agronomically essential nutrient for achieving and maintaining high yields of rice (Lian, 1976;Liang et al.,1994).Silicon enhances the growth of various (mostly monocotyledonous) plants by providing rigidity to plant tissues and promoting photosynthesis (Cheng,1982; Epstein,1994).Si has recently aroused interest in crop research because of yield responses to Si in rice, spring wheat ( Nowakowski and Nowakowska 1997 ; Rafi and Epstein 1999 ), sugarcane ( Savant et al.1999 ), and barley ( Liang 1999 ).Some experiments indicated that it could promote growth of legumes,such as soybeans and alfalfa( Tian 2006).
alfalfa yields silicon pot experiment nutrients
TIAN Fu-ping
Lanzhou Institute of Animal and Veterinary Pharmaceutics Science,The lanzhou Scientific Observation and Experiment Field Station of Ministry of Agriculture for Ecological System in Loess Plateau Areas,Lanzhou 730050 China.
国际会议
呼和浩特
英文
2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）