ABSTRACT
The world’s population is on an ever-increasing track, and to feed the huge community, demand for food is increasing with the same rate. Urbanization and industrialization are the major components that reduce plant growth and development by imposing different stresses like drought stress, salinity stress, and heavy metal stress. Less growth and development ultimately leads toward reduced quantity and poor quality of food. Present agricultural yield seems to fail in providing food to a common person on a sustainable basis. This situation leads toward numerous socioeconomic problems. Keeping in view this scenario, it is the need of hour to use strategies that can enhance the yield by supporting plant growth under such awful stresses. Silicon is one of the most important elements that play a beneficial role in plant growth and development. It helps the plants and crops attain their maximum potential of yield. Along with high yield, Si also has majestic effects in stress conditions for plants. Silicon enhances the resistance of plants against pathogens and diseases. It also protects plants against the harms and fluctuations of temperature, metal, salinity, and water deficit stress. Silicon also improves the mechanism of enzymes under stress conditions. The role of Si for supporting plants to combat abiotic stresses needs further exploration as our present knowledge is not up to the mark. This chapter is very effective in solving this critical situation and gives us a complete detail of silicon’s supportive mechanism against various abiotic stresses.
