Effect of silicon and boron foliar application on yield and quality of rice

A field study was carried out to investigate the effect of foliar application of silicon and boron on yield and quality of rice (oryza sativa l.).. randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement comprising three replications was planed and 4m × 2.25m net plot size was maintained. the treatments were comprised of silicon i.e. no additive,0.50%,1.00%,1.50% aqueous solutions and boron i.e. no additive,0.50%,1.00%,1.50% aqueous solutions for foliar application. nursery of 30 days old seedling was transplanted and 22.5cm hill to hill distance was maintained. sodium silicate (20.35% si) and boric acid (11.17% b) were used as the source of silicon and boron,respectively. combine application of both the nutrients at 1.5% silicon and 1.0% boron performed well. the interactive effect of silicon at 1.5% and boron at 1% has significantly improved 1000 kernels weight (19.65 g),biological yield (20.09 t ha-1),kernel yield (5.63 t ha-1),protein content (7.23 %),starch content (79.71 %) and economical to use. silicon (1.0% silicon level) produced the maximum plant height and grain starch where in all others parameters silicon at 1.5% silicon solution resulted best. individual application of boron had not shown any increase in plant height,whereas 1000-grain weight,paddy yield harvest index and all quality parameters were significantly affected by boron at 1.0% boron solution.