Abstract:
Silicon has prooven beneficial in growth, yield and disease resistance of plants. Currently, the different
chemical sources; sodium silicate, potassium silicate and calcium silicate have been used to supply Si for
plants. However, rice hull is one of the natural sources of Si which has not properly utilized. It has been
reported that 5 g of rice hull leach 40 ppm of soluble Si in a week of soaking period. Thus, this research was
conducted to investigate the effect of rice hull leachate as a Si source, on growth, yield and fruit parameters
and also disease resistance of hydroponically grown Capsicum annum L. ‘Muria F1’. Leaching studies were
conducted to determine the optimum level of Si leached by rice hull, by soaking them in different time periods
(days). This leachate was incorporated to the plants grown in hydroponic media supplemented with two
different nutrient solutions i.e Nutrient formula (NF) and Albert solution.The growth, yield and fruit quality
parameters were measured and the resistance against anthracnose disease was assessed by artificial
inoculation of fruits with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and measuring the lesion area. Capsicum plants
grown in rice hull leachate with either nutrient solution showed significant increase in, shoot length (>12%),
number of leaves (>27%), leaf area (>42%) fruit length (>12%), fruit fresh weight (>37%) and yield
(>44%) and also a significant reduction of anthracnose disease (>43%) compared to control. The results
revealed that rice hull leachate could be used as a low cost silicon source in hydroponic media to enhance
performance of Capsicum cv. Muria F1.
