Available Silicon Status and Silicon Content in Rice Growing Areas of Middle Guj arat Region

摘要

The survey work was carried out in rice growing areas of Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara, Panchamahals and Dahod districts of middle Gujarat region in the month of October-November 2009 to assess the available Si status in rice soils and silicon content in rice plant. Twenty representative surface soil and rice plant samples from each district were collected from different rice ecosystem of the region. Thus, a total of 120 surface soil and 120 plant samples were collected from different villages of six districts. The available silicon in rice soils extracted by NaOAc extractant ranged from 17.3 to 93.7 mg kg~(-1) with an overall mean of 45.6 mg kg~(-1) in different districts of middle Gujarat region. The mean available Si in soils of rice growing area of Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Panchmahals, Dahod and Vadodara districts were 41.5, 43.8, 62.7, 33.0, 51.3 and 41.4 mg kg~(-1), respectively. The lowest value of silicon was found in soils of Panchmahals district ranged from 17.3 to 64.8 mg kg~(-1). The data showed that around 60% soils of different districts had less than 50.0 mg Si kg~(-1) and on hectare basis; it was 2933 hundred hectares of rice growing areas of middle Gujarat region. The silicon content of rice grain collected from the region ranged from 1.20 to 5.99% with an average value of 3.01 per cent and the rice straw silica content varied from 3.52 to 9.80% with an overall mean of 6.30% of different districts of middle Gujarat region. Amongst different textural classes, the mean available silicon was found maximum (47.1 mg kg1) in clay loam type of soil, whereas the lowest value (43.9 mg kg1) was found in sandy loam type of soil. The gurjari variety of rice contained more silicon (10.37%) as compared to GR-11 (9.24%) in plant in different districts.