Silicon in Plants Advances and Future Prospects

In the present era, rapid industrialization and urbanization has resulted in unwanted physiological, chemical, and biological changes in the environment that have harmful effects on crop quality and productivity. This situation is further worsened by the growing demand for food due to an ever increasing population. This forces plant scientists and agronomists to look forward for alternative strategies to enhance crop production and produce safer, healthier foods. Biotic and abiotic stresses are major constraints to crop productivity and have become an important challenge to agricultural scientists and agronomists due to the fact that both stress factors considerably reduce agriculture production worldwide per year. Silicon has various effects on plant growth and development, as well as crop yields. It increases photosynthetic activity, creates better disease resistance, reduces heavy metal toxicity, improves nutrient imbalance, and enhances drought tolerance. Silicon in Plants: Advances and Future Prospects presents the beneficial effects of silicon in improving productivity in plants and enhancing the capacity of plants to resist stresses from environmental factors. It compiles recent advances made worldwide in different leading laboratories concerning the role of silicon in plant biology in order to make these outcomes easily accessible to academicians, researchers, industrialists, and students. Nineteen chapters summarize information regarding the role of silicon in plants, their growth and development, physiological and molecular responses, and responses against the various abiotic stresses.

Mechanisms of Silicon-Mediated Alleviation of Abiotic Stress in Plants: Recent Advances and Future PerspectiveDenis Líška, Milan Soukup, Zuzana Lukacová, Boris Bokor, and Marek VaculíkRole of Silicon under Nutrient Deficiency: Recent Advances and Future PerspectiveMuhammad Zia-ur-Rehman, Fatima Akmal, Noorani Mir, Muhammad Rizwan, Asif Naeem, Muhammad Sabir, and Zahoor AhmadRegulatory Mechanisms by Silicon to Overcome the Salinity-Induced Imbalance of Essential Nutrient Elements Prabhakaran Soundararajan, Abinaya Manivannan, and Byoung Ryong JeongSilicon: A Potential Element to Impart Resistance to Photosynthetic Machinery under Different Abiotic StressesGausiya Bashri, Durgesh Kumar Tripathi, Vijay Pratap Singh, Sheo Mohan Prasad, and Devendra Kumar ChauhanSilicon and Heavy Metal Tolerance of PlantsClístenes Williams Araújo do Nascimento and Karina Patrícia Vieira da CunhaSilicon and Nanotechnology: Role in Agriculture and Future PerspectivesAnita Singh, Shikha Singh, and Sheo Mohan PrasadSilicon and Floricultural Crops: Evaluation of Silicon Uptake and Deposition in Floricultural PlantsYoo Gyeong Park, Chung Ho Ko, Sowbiya Muneer, and Byoung Ryong JeongSilicon and Alleviation of Salt Stress in Crop Genotypes Differing in Salt ToleranceMuhammad Shahzad, Abdul Qadir, and Sajid MasoodSilicon-Mediated Modulations of Genes and Secondary Metabolites in Plants: A Comprehensive OverviewAbinaya Manivannan, Prabhakaran Soundararajan, and Byoung Ryong JeongRole of Silicon under Heavy Metal and Toxic Element Stress: An Emphasis on Root BiologyMarek Vaculík and Miroslava VaculíkováSilicon Uptake and Translocation in Plants: Recent Advances and Future PerspectivesAnuradha Patel, Jitendra Kumar, Madhulika Singh, Vijay Pratap Singh, and Sheo Mohan PrasadSilicon and Chromium Toxicity in Plants: An OverviewRehan Ahmad, Shafaqat Ali, Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Rizwan, Fakhir Hannan, Muhammad Adrees, and Muhammad Daud KhanRole of Silicon in Plants: Present Scenario and Future ProspectsShweta, Swati Singh, Bishwajit Kumar Kushwaha, Parvaiz Ahmad, Durgesh Kumar Tripathi, Nawal Kishore Dubey, and Devendra Kumar ChauhanSilicon and Cadmium Toxicity in Plants: An OverviewFakhir Hannan, Shafaqat Ali, Rehan Ahmad, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Iqbal, Hina Rizvi, and Muhammad Zia-ur-RehmanRoles of Silicon in Improving Drought Tolerance in PlantsHemmat KhattabSilicon Nutrition and Crop Improvement: Recent Advances and Future PerspectiveArkadiusz Artyszak and Katarzyna KucinskaSilicon and Antioxidant Defense System against Abiotic Stresses in Plants: An OverviewMuhammad Zia-ur-Rehman, Hinnan Khalid, Fatima Akmal, Maqsooda Waqar, Muhammad Rizwan, Farooq Qayyum, and Muhammad NadeemSilicon Nutrition and Rice Crop Improvement in Iran: Recent Advances and Future PerspectivesAllahyar FallahEfficacy of Silicon against Aluminum Toxicity in Plants: An OverviewDurgesh Kumar Tripathi, Gausiya Bashri, Shweta, Swati Singh, Parvaiz Ahmad, Vijay Pratap Singh, Sheo Mohan Prasad, Nawal Kishore Dubey, and Devendra Kumar Chauhan