Distribution of Silicon in Rice Growing Soils of West Bengal in Relation to Some Important Soil Chemical Properties

Abstract

Silicon (Si) is an essential mineral element for silicophilic plant species viz., rice and sugarcane. Rice takes more Si compared to any other primary nutrients from soil but few reports are available on the available Si status of major rice growing soils in India. With this view, about two hundred twenty five (225) geo-referenced surface soil samples from intensively rice growing areas covering nine different districts of West Bengal were collected to study the distribution of available Si and their relationship with other soil chemical properties. Results showed that available Si in soils varied from 12.8 to 455.8 mg kg-1 with an overall mean of 103.0 mg kg-1. Among the districts, the soils of Nadia (185.2 mg kg-1) showed highest available Si content followed by Hooghly (120.5 mg kg-1) whereas, soils of the Jalpaiguri (30.4 mg kg-1) showed lowest in its content followed by Cooch Behar (30.4 mg kg-1). It was further indicated that the content of available Si in soil was positively correlated with pH (r = 0.38**), phosphorus (r = 0.43**) and available Cu (r = 0.15*) and negatively correlated with organic carbon (r = -0.21**), available zinc (r =
-0.20**) and Fe (r= -0.09). The results of this study would immensely help the future researchers, as inventory information to optimise the application rate of Si in intensively rice growing soils of West Bengal.