Silicon Nutrition and Crop Improvement: Recent Advances and Future Perspective

Fertilizers with macronutrients like N, P, K, Mg, Ca, and S, as well as micronutrients like B, Cu, Cl, Fe, Mo, Mn, Ni, and Zn, are commonly used in crop fertilization. However, there is another group of plant nutrients, the “beneficial mineral elements.” Mineral nutrients that are not very important or are essential only for certain plant species, or under specific conditions, are defined as beneficial elements (Marschner, 2002). They are cobalt, sodium, and silicon. We know that the majority of the crops produced worldwide are silicon accumulators.