To date, information regarding the effects of Si on rice
(
Oryza sativa
L.) nutritional quality is rarely reported. The
current study was conducted to evaluate how Si fertilizer
impacts the mineral element, protein and amino acid
concentrations in brown and milled rice. The experiment
was a randomized complete split-plot design, with Si
treatments as main plot and two cultivars as subplot.
Compared with the control, application of Si fertilizer
significantly enhanced the Zn, Ca and Mg concentrations
in brown and milled rice but had nonsignificant effects on
the Fe, Mn and Cu concentrations. Moreover, application
of Si fertilizer resulted in significant increases in the
concentrations of protein and most of the amino acids in
brown and milled rice. However, the Gly, His, Val, Met
and Lys concentrations were unaffected by the application
of Si. The responses of the Cys and Phe concentrations to
Si fertilizer application were cultivar-dependent. Applying
Si significantly increased Zn, Ca, Mg and protein
concentrations by 21.77%, 25.77%, 7.25% and 6.19% in
milled rice and by 25.18%, 39.81%, 9.24% and 5.52%
in brown rice. These results indicate that Si fertilizer
could improve rice nutritional quality by increasing
concentrations of mineral elements, protein and some
amino acids in brown and milled rice.
