Physiological Studies on the Effects of Silicic Acid upon Rice Plants : XIII. Effects of silicic acid on the formation of organs and tissues of rice plants

Rice plants in non-SiO2 plot are inferior to those in SiO2 plot in such forms as plant height, number of living leaves, number of stems, maximum width of leaf blade and length of leaf blade, number of panicles and in the size of rice grains. In the case of culm, 1 cm lower the panicle base, the rice plants in non-SiO2 plot are also inferior in the number of vascular bundles, number and length of root hairs, speed of protoplasmic translocation in root hair, number of root hairs in which protoplasma translocate, and in the thickness of the lowest elongated internode. In the central part of the flag leaf of the harvested rice plants in non-SiO2 plot, many mobile cells took the withered-shape and vascular bundles were smaller. In the central part of the 6th internode (from the top) of rice plants in non-SiO2 plot, number of outer and inner vascular bundles and number of aerenchyma were smaller. From the above mentioned facts, it is recognized that silicic acid is available for the promotion of development of organs and tissues of rice plants.