© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
9:
1-15, 2016
DOI 10.1515/hppj-2016-0001
Department of Agriculture, A.E.C., P.O. Box 6091, Da-
mascus, Syria
e-mail:
has been proposed as a viable alternative to
conventional control techniques. Silicon can
improve environmental stress tolerance and
increase crop productivity (Ma and Yamaji,
2006; Datnofft
et al.,
2007). Moreover, silicon
application is a preventive measure against
a number of fungal diseases (Fauteux
et al.,
2005; Datnoff
et al.,
2007; Van Bockhaven
et
al.,
2013).
In the literature, two hypotheses for sil-
icon-enhanced resistance to fungal diseas-
es have been proposed (Fauteux
et al.,
2005;
Datnoff
et al.,
2007; Van Bockhaven
et al.,
2013). The first one is associated with the
higher deposit of silicon in the leaf so as to
form physical barrier to impede pathogen
penetration. The second one is related to
its biologically active role in the expression
of natural defense mechanisms. However,
the first mechanism (physical defense) may
partly explain the prophylactic effects of sili-
con, the second one (biochemical defense) is
more accepted for explaining the protective
role of silicon against many plant pathogens
(Fauteux
et al.,
2005; Datnoff
et al.,
2007).
To date, several studies have document-
ed the ability of silicon to control and reduce
the incidence and severity of fungal diseas-
es in both monocotyledons and dicotyle-
REVIEW ARTICLE
The role of silicon (Si) in increasing plant resistance against
fungal diseases
N. Sakr
Summary
The use of silicon (Si) in agriculture has attracted a great deal of interest from researchers
because of the numerous benefits of this element to plants. The use of silicon has decreased the inten-
sity of several diseases in crops of great economic importance. In this study, the relationship between
silicon nutrition and fungal disease development in plants was reviewed. The current review under-
lines the agricultural importance of silicon in crops, the potential for controlling fungal plant patho-
gens by silicon treatment, the different mechanisms of silicon-enhanced resistance, and the inhibito-
ry effects of silicon on plant pathogenic fungi
in vitro
. By combining the data presented in this paper, a
better comprehension of the relationship between silicon treatments, increasing plant resistance, and
decreasing severity of fungal diseases could be achieved.
Additional keywords
: pathogenic fungi, severity of fungal disease, silicon treatment
1. Introduction
Diseases caused by different fungal patho-
gens are among the major constraints of
plant production (Semal, 1989). The use of
resistant varieties/rootstocks and fungicides
are therefore the simplest and most effective
methods to reduce the severity of fungal dis-
eases (Dubin and Rajaram, 1996; Shephard,
1997). However, resistance is overcome by
the genetic diversity of fungal pathogens as
well as by genotype × environmental interac-
tions (Bayles
et al.,
2000). Repeated fungicide
treatments generate important econom-
ic losses, emergence of resistant pathogen
populations, and potential environmental
impacts (Ma and Michailides, 2005). There-
fore, alternative environment-friendly meth-
ods for the management of fungal plant
pathogens remain to be urgently investigat-
ed. Soil fertilizers with nutritional elements
were shown to have disease suppressing ef-
fects on various pathosystems (Datnoff
et al.,
2007). In fact, the application of silicon (Si)
