Don't Forget to Supplement Silicon and Zinc Fertilizers When Fertilizing Rice

In the optimized formula fertilization of rice, people often attach great importance to the combined application of macronutrient fertilizers such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, but overlook the application of elements such as silicon and zinc.

In fact, rice is a crop that absorbs a relatively large amount of silicon, and the stems and leaves generally contain 10%-20% silicon dioxide. The silicic acid content in the rice plant is about 10 times that of nitrogen and about 20 times that of phosphorus. Silicon deficiency in rice easily leads to slender and weak stems, making the plants prone to lodging and disease infection. Silicon deficiency in the early stage reduces the number of productive panicles in rice, while silicon deficiency in the later stage reduces the number of spikelets, so the high quality and high yield of rice cannot be guaranteed. Applying silicon fertilizer to rice can enhance the rice's resistance to pests and diseases and its lodging resistance, improve plant type, increase light energy utilization, reduce leaf transpiration water loss, and improve water use efficiency. It can generally increase yield by more than 10% and can also improve rice quality. Especially in newly converted paddy fields, cold waterlogged fields, and acidic soils, the effect of applying silicon fertilizer to rice is even more obvious.

Although zinc is only a trace element, it has a great effect on zinc-loving crops such as rice and corn, and the yield increase effect is very good. Rice is very sensitive to the zinc element. Zinc deficiency can cause plants to produce leaves slowly, with new leaves short, narrow, and small, and leaf color relatively pale, especially near the midrib at the base fading to yellowish white. In severe cases, the plants are obviously dwarfed and clustered, with very few tillers. In the field, they often appear uneven, and the rice root system becomes old and decayed, appearing brown. At the heading stage, "flowering but not setting grain" occurs, generally reducing yield by 10%-30%, and in severe fields it may even destroy the seedlings and result in no harvest. Large-area experimental results show that after reasonable zinc application, rice plant height, effective tiller number, grains per panicle, and 1000-grain weight all increase, and the empty grain rate decreases to some extent, generally increasing yield by more than 15%. Especially in acidic soils, calcareous soils, cold waterlogged fields, and newly converted paddy fields, the effect of applying zinc fertilizer is even more obvious.

The specific application methods are: (1) Silicon fertilizer application. Silicates containing calcium and magnesium are mostly used as silicon fertilizer, mixed with other fertilizers when applying base fertilizer, with an application rate of 1 kg of effective silicon per mu. (2) Zinc application. It is generally recommended to apply as base fertilizer, with 1 kg of zinc sulfate per mu, mixed with other chemical fertilizers; it can also be used for foliar application, soil topdressing in the middle and late stages, and seed treatment. The commonly used concentration for foliar topdressing is 0.3% zinc sulfate. For later-stage topdressing, about 0.5 kg of zinc sulfate is applied. Both are carried out after zinc deficiency symptoms appear or at the late tillering stage. For seed treatment, soaking rice seeds in 0.1% zinc sulfate for 24 hours is sufficient.