Effects of Silicon to Salt Stress on Strawberry Plant

Strawberry is often affected by salinity due to poor drainage and excessive fertilization. Silicon application is becoming a feasible and cheap treatment to relieve the damages of salt stress. In the current study, the effects of silicon was investigated on plant growth, relative chlorophyll content and stomatal conductance of strawberry plant. A strawberry plant (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cv Kabarla was chosen for the experiment with following a randomized plot design involving three replications, with three plants per replication. Up until the start of the experiment, all plants were irrigated with tap water and 1 month later plants were applied with three different CaSiO3 doses (0.5, 1 and 2 mM) and were watered with 35 mM NaCl solution. Control and salt plants were not applied with CaSiO3, salt plants were watered with NaCl solution compared to control. Three months after the salinity (in March), many plant growth properties such as root volume, root tissue density, root mass ratio, shoot mass ratio, were evaluated. End of the study, salt decreased root volume by 37% compared to the control, while 1 mM Si decreased 26%. Root tissue density was significantly reduced when plants were subjected to salt stress. Compared to the control group, salt decreased root tissue density by 34%, while 0.5 mM Si declined by 2%. As a result, Si diminished the adverse effects of salt stress on strawberry plant growth