HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1641798
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Avenues of Silicon's Role in Plant Biology: Trends and ControversiesView all 5 articles
The positive impact of silicon on the yield and quality of tobacco
Provisionally accepted
- Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
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Silicon (Si) is widely used in agricultural crop practices. However, the effects of varying Si application rates on tobacco growth and quality remain unclear. Therefore, this study applied four different Si concentrations, i.e., 0, 50, 100 and 200 kg/ha of Si (S0, S50, S100 and S200), examined the impact of different Si concentrations on tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. 'Yunyan 87') growth, nutrient utilization, and economic quality under field conditions. The results demonstrated that Si application significantly improved tobacco growth, the biomass significantly increased by 19.5% -26.53%; during button stage, the plant height significantly increased by 15.38% -19%. Si also enhanced nutrient use efficiency, particularly for nitrogen and potassium. The utilization efficiency of N and K fertilizer were significantly increased by 27.42% -43.71% and 40.25% and 44.63%, respectively. Furthermore, Si improved leaf physical properties, enhancing single-leaf weight and leaf area, while reducing leaf density and midrib ratio, optimizing leaf quality by improving the sugar-alkali ratio and potassium-chloride balance. Notably, the reducing sugar content in upper leaves increased by 15.21% with S50 treatment, while the chlorine content in middle leaves was decreased by 11.11% with S100. Additionally, among all treatments, S50 achieved the highest proportion (94.75%) of high-quality tobacco leaves, along with a 15.70% increase in yield and a 30.76% boost in output value compared to S0. However, excessive Si application (3000 kg/ha) negatively affected quality, increasing nicotine levels and disrupting the sugar-alkali ratio, which elevate leaf irritancy. In conclusion, moderate Si application (750-1500 kg/ha) is an effective strategy for enhancing tobacco yield and quality, offering a sustainable approach to optimize cultivation practices.
Keywords: Silicon, Tobacco, Growth, nutrient use efficiency, Economic benefits
Received: 05 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He, Li, Ma, Zhou, Kang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qiang Li, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
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