Vol. 10, Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
R Karthik Raja, K Krishna Surendar, V Ravichandran, M Kannan and R Pushpam

Abstract:
Rice is an important food crop in India, feed more than 60 percent of the population drought causes severe effect on rice during reproductive phase that causes more than 60 percent yield loses. Silicon is a quasi-essential element for rice. External application of silicon gives tolerance to abiotic stresses. Compared with silicon, silicon nano particle have more proficient in inducing the drought tolerance capacity. In the present study, drought was imposed at 12 days before flowering to 10 days after flowering; followed by normal irrigation. Different concentrations of silica nanoformulation viz., 200ppm, 400ppm, 600ppm, 800ppm, 1000ppm were applied foliarly to know the effect of silica nanoformulation under water deficit stress condition. The application of nanosilica had correlated positively with drought tolerance traits in CO54 and CO53 varieties. Foliar application of silica nanoformulation at the rate of 400 ppm had maximum value on total chlorophyll content, soluble protein content, relative water content, chlorophyll stability index, membrane stability index and antioxidant enzymes of catalase, proline accumulation (decreased) compare with drought alone in rice (CO54 and CO53).