Agro-morphological and yield-related traits of selected Malaysian high yielding rice cultivars under silicon supplementation

The objective of the present study was to assess the potential of silicon application on the agro-morphological and yield-related traits of selected Malaysian high yielding rice cultivars. A pot study was set up in the Greenhouse No. 5 at the Faculty Plantation & Agrotechnology, University Teknologi MARA Malacca Branch, Jasin Campus between March to August 2024. A total of 32 pots were laid out as a factorial experiment with four replications and arranged in a randomized complete block design. There were four level silicon treatments used in this study; T1 (control), T2 (250kg Si/ha), T3 (500kg Si/ha), and T4 (750 kg Si/ha). Remarkably, silicon nutrition application does not differ significantly influence rice growth attributes for IS21 and MR297 at the rice growth stages of 40 DAT, 60 DAT and 75 DAT. In term of yield related traits, panicle number, panicle length and grain yield showed an optimum at 250 kg Si/ha when compared to control and other treatments for IS21 variety. Meanwhile, silicon supplementation level at T4 (750 kg Si/ha) recorded the higher value than other treatments on panicle number, panicle length and grain yield for MR297 rice variety when compared to control and other treatments observed in this study respectively.