Comparison of the effects of silicic acid, organosilicon and Nano-silicon on rice cell wall phosphorus.

Phosphorus is crucial for plant growth, but its deficiency is a global issue. can relieve plant phosphorus deficiency, yet the impacts and mechanisms of different silicon materials remain unclear. Here, we first showed a negative correlation between leaf silicon and cell wall phosphate among 14 rice varieties. Subsequently, we compared the effects of three silicon materials: inorganic silicon (silicic acid), organosilicon (ethoxy-modified polytrisiloxane) and Nano-silicon on rice growth and explored the underlying mechanism from the perspective of cell wall. Inorganic silicon can increase the dry weight of rice roots and shoots by 20 %-34 % under normal and phosphorus deficient conditions. Hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin dominate the adsorption of phosphate on the cell wall. Under phosphorus deficiency conditions, inorganic silicon reduces the phosphate adsorption capacity of cell walls by 20 % by decreasing the phosphate adsorption capacity of hemicellulose and lignin components. The effect of organosilicon on the phosphate adsorption capacity of cell wall components is not significant. Nano-silicon reduces the phosphate adsorption capacity of cellulose and lignin, resulting in a 16.5 % and 26 % decrease in the phosphate adsorption capacity of cell walls under normal and phosphorus deficient conditions, respectively. Inorganic silicon and Nano-silicon crosslink with cell walls to form different cross-linking structures, altering the surface smoothness of cell wall materials and reducing phosphate adsorption space. This paper provides new insights into the effect and mechanism of different silicon materials in plants under phosphate deficiency condition.