Silicon and Nano-silicon in Environmental Stress Management and Crop Quality Improvement: Progress and Prospects

Silicon and Nano-silicon in Environmental Stress Management and Crop Quality Improvement: Progress and Prospects provides a comprehensive overview of the latest understanding of the physiological, biochemical, and molecular basis of silicon- and nano-silicon-mediated environmental stress tolerance and crop quality improvements in plants. This volume not only covers silicon-induced biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in crops, but it is also the first volume to include nano-silicon-mediated approaches to environmental stress tolerance in crops.

Crops grown in field conditions are constantly exposed to various factors of abiotic and biotic stresses, which lead to reduced yield and product quality. To achieve sustainable development in agriculture and to increase agricultural production for feeding an increasing global population, it is necessary to apply ecologically compatible and environment-friendly strategies to decrease the adverse effects of stresses on the plant. Silicon has been recognized as a beneficial plant nutrient and many growers already include it in their crop fertility programs. Further, in the last decade, nanotechnology has emerged as a prominent tool for enhancing agricultural productivity, and the production and applications of nanoparticles (NPs) have greatly increased in many industries. Recent research works related to silicon-NPs-mediated abiotic and biotic stresses and nutritional improvements in plants have received considerable interest and while significant progress was made in silicon biochemistry in relation to stress tolerance, an in-depth resource on the molecular mechanisms associated with the silicon- and nano-silicon-mediated stress tolerance and biofortification in plants has been lacking.

Silicon and Nano-silicon in Environmental Stress Management and Crop Quality Improvement: Progress and Prospects fills that knowledge gap, providing key insights for foundational understanding as well as inspiration for future research. This book consists of 25 chapters, each of which provides comprehensive information about the development of new stress tolerant crop varieties and biofortification, is a valuable reference resource, mostly for researchers, educators, and advanced-level students in agricultural and environmental soil and plant science.