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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2025)

Influence of agronomic biofortification with Zn and Si on plant growth, yield, and nutritional quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.6038
Submitted
21 October 2024
Published
28-04-2025 — Updated on 19-06-2025
Versions

Abstract

Around 165 million children under the age of five are at risk of impaired cognitive development and physical capability as a result of zinc deficiency. At the same time, over 1.6 billion individuals worldwide suffer from anaemia. Biofortification is envisioned as a sustainable, cost-effective, and food-based means to deliver target micronutrients to populations through staple crops. To explore the effect of zinc (Zn) and silicon (Si) on the growth, yield, and nutritional quality of rice, two factorial experiments with three rice cultivars and four fertilizer treatments were conducted following a split-plot design with 4 replications at the Field Laboratory of the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University in two consecutive Boro seasons of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Rice cultivars used were – Purple rice, Pahari rice, and BRRI dhan28, and four fertilizer treatments, viz. T0 – Control (recommended dose of fertilizers; RDF), T1 – RDF + 6 kg ha–1 ZnSO4, T2 – RDF + 60 kg ha–1 CaSiO3, and T3 – RDF + 100 kg ha–1 CaSiO3. Results revealed that the application of Zn and Si significantly improved the growth, yield, and nutritional quality of rice. Except for ash and nitrogen-free extract (NFE) content, the application of Si greatly increased grain yield and all other nutritional indicators. The maximum ash and NFE levels were determined in grains with Zn application. The performance of Si fertilizer was significantly better than that of Zn fertilizer. Both the Purple and Pahari rice cultivars have comparable grain yields with the check BRRI dhan28. Further multi-location experiments may lead to the recommendation of these two traditional cultivars for production during the Boro season in Bangladesh.

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