Actisil application affects growth, flowering, and biochemical parameters in petunia in vitro and greenhouse

Abstract

Mineral nutrients are necessary for the growth and development of plants. Previous studies have concentrated mainly on silicon-accumulating plants, while less work has been conducted on non-accumulating plants such as Petunia × atkinsiana D. Don. In this study, we investigated the responses of morphological (plant height, root length, fresh and dry weight, no. of flowers) and biochemical (proline, malondialdehyde MDA, catalase CAT activity, total chlorophylls, carotenoids, total polyphenol, and NO3) traits of petunia to external application of commercial silicon solution (Hydroplus™ Actisil) after 5 weeks of in vitro culture and 6 weeks under greenhouse condition. Actisil was supplemented into the MS medium (in vitro) at concentrations of 0 (control), 50, 100, 200, and 500 mg L−1, or supplied via irrigations at a concentration of 0 (control) and 200 mg L−1 in one, two, and three applications under greenhouse conditions. The addition of silicon to the MS medium decreased plant height (22–41% of control) and root length (53–70% of control). In contrast, in greenhouse-grown petunia irrigation of silicon increased plant height (145% of control ) and root length (176% of control). Petunias treated with Actisil had greener leaves compared to the control. This was also confirmed by higher concentrations of chlorophyll. Conversely, increased concentrations of proline, MDA, and total polyphenol and higher CAT activities may indicate that silicon provokes a stress response of the in vitro plants. Actisil treatment in the concentration of 200 mg L−1 was found to positively affect the growth and flowering of the greenhouse-grown petunia.

Silicon Nutrition in Young Olive Plants: Effect of Dose, Application Method, and Cultivar

“…Because the essentiality of Si in higher plants has not been demonstrated yet (Marschner, 2012), the stimulation of plant growth after its application could not be expected. Despite that, some authors have observed that Si promotes vegetative growth in different crops (Kornd€ orfer and Lepsch, 2001;Krupa-Małkiewicz and Calomme, 2021;Liang et al, 2015;Pati et al, 2016;S a et al, 2015), particularly when plants are under biotic and abiotic stress conditions (Ma, 2004). Furthermore, the highest Si concentration in plants was observed in the roots.…”

Effect of Actisil (Hydroplus™), organic supplements, and pH of the medium on the micropropagation of Vaccinium corymbosum

“…blueberry [Morikawa andSaigusa 2004, Figiel-Kroczyńska andOchmian 2019], and non-accumulating plants e.g. petunia [Krupa-Małkiewicz and Calomme 2021]. Numerous authors described a positive role of Si in improving crop growth and yield under abiotic and biotic stress conditions by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes like CAT, increased accumulation of proline and malondialdehyde concentration (MDA), the secretion of endogenous hormones, and the production of lignins, chitinase, phenolic compounds, phytoalexin, and glucanases [Sahebi et al 2016, Luyckx et al 2017, Mandlik et al 2020.…”