Vol. 12, Issue 7 (2023)

Potassium silicate has been shown to improve plant tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses and also benefit for plant growth. The mother plant transfers a large amount of the nutrients it has accumulated during its vegetative life to the F₁ generation through its seeds. This study examines the effects of soil application of PS of different guilds in susceptible variety and impact on F1 generation seed parameters. The percent reduction of DH damage in different doses of PS at graded doses; it was in the range 16-65% compared to the control. Similarly, the percent reduction of honeydew excretion, oviposition, and NS of the BPH in different doses of PS was in the range of 80-92%, 2-37%, and 12-49%, respectively, compared to the control. The application of PS increased the silica content of the treated plants than in the untreated control. Moreover, the F1 generation seeds from K₂SiO₃ treated plants showed significant improvements for all seed quality traits. Improvements in GP (25%), ShL (25%), RL (13%), SL (16%), SVI (36%), SVII (37%), SOG (20%), and SC (176%) were observed. These results open up new avenues for future studies on improved performance of next generation seeds through silica amendment.