Effect of Different Sources and Amounts of Silicon Fertilizer on Growth, Yield and Infestation Rate of Stem Borer in Two Rice Cultivars of Hashemi Tarom and 843 Lines

Silicon is as an essential element for crops and an important food source for the growth of rice plant. If no adequate replacement for this element، plants are faced with a shortage of silicon causing serious eating disorder and instability in plant resistance to pests. This research was done to investigate the effect of silicon on growth، yield and tolerance to rice stem borer in Tarom Hashemi variety and 843 line of rice plant. The experiment was carried out in research field of Rice Research Institute of Iran in Amol in 2011 as a factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments of the experiment included two rice varieties (843 lines (V1) and Tarom Hashemi variety (V2))، tow type of silicon sources، SiO2 73% (S1) and remains of Savadkoh mine 22% (S2). The amount of silicon was used in three levels: 0 (D1)، 250 (D2) and 500 kg/ha (D3) of pure silicon. The results showed that 843 line significantly had adventages to Tarom Hashemi variety in all characters except of weight of 1000 grains and tolerance to stem borer. And two silicon sources were not significantly different. Also the results showed that 250 kg/ha of silicon was the best treatment for silicon fertilizer in the farm. Using this fertilizer significantly increased stem silicon، leaf silicon، the number of tillers، flag leaf area، leaf dry weight، weight of 1000 grains، grain yield and also significantly decreased second leaf angle to stem and damage of rice stem borer.