Growth and Production of rice (oryza sativa l.) under different fertilization plans with Silicon

The application of fertilizers to rice crops constitutes a large percentage of productions costs, which in recent years have increased; therefore, it is necessary to implement alternatives that optimize the application and improve profitability. It was evaluated the effect of different doses and application times of a fertilizer with silicon on a rice crop, Fedearroz 50 variety. The experimental design was completely randomized with a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement. The first factor was dose (20 and 40 kg ha-1) and the second factor was combination of period and application dose (100% preplant, 50% preplant + 50% first fertilization, 100% first fertilization, 50% preplant +50% second fertilization, 100% second fertilization) for a total of 10 treatments that were applied in 2 locations (Ibagué and El Guamo). We found that the preplant fertilizer applications increased the production of root biomass throughout the crop cycle and that the biomass of the stems and leaves had a similar behavior with the two doses of silicon. The tillering in Ibagué presented a value of 520 clusters m-2, 127% higher than in El Guamo, which had a value of 229 clusters m-2, a highly significant difference. Throughout the period, height showed a behavior model double logistic sigmoid; the height of the rice plants was higher in El Guamo. In the two localities, Ibagué and El Guamo, the most appropriate fertilizer dose of silicon was 20 kg ha-1 in the second fertilization.