Unraveling the underlying mechanisms of silicon in mitigating simultaneous drought and potassium deficiency stresses to strengthen sugarcane sustainability

• Grant number: 24/14890-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Renato de Mello Prado
• Grantee: Seyede Roghie Ghadirnezhad Shiade
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The advance of climate change has increased the frequency of drought in crops, worsening the situation in marginal areas where potassium (K) deficiency is common and compromising sugarcane production. In this scenario, there was a predominance of simultaneous stresses in relation to isolated stresses in sugarcane crops in different regions of Brazil. However, research has evolved with mitigating agents such as silicon (Si), showing promising results in mitigating stress. However, its potential to mitigate dual stress and the mechanisms involved remain unknown. Theoretically, the only element in plant nutrition that could have the potential to mitigate multiple stresses is Si, but this remains to be proven. Therefore, we hypothesize that (i) the use of Si via fertigation, by enhancing the absorption of the element, is capable of mitigating individual stresses due to water and K deficits in a similar way to these simultaneous stresses. This is due (ii) to the fact that Si modulates multiple benefits in sugarcane by increasing the non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidant defense system, in addition to ensuring C:N:P homeostasis in plant tissues and increasing the efficiency of use of nutrients and water, improving the physiological aspects of the plant, growth and production. To this end, this research aims to evaluate the effects of using Si in different cultivation conditions based on stress due to water deficit and/or K deficiency on biochemical, nutritional and physiological, microbiological and transcriptome attributes and the production of sugarcane and of sugar cane. The experiment will be carried out in pots filled with Neossolo Quartzarenico with low Si and K content. The experiment will be carried out in a 4x2 factorial scheme, with four treatments consisting of control (without stress), isolated stress due to water deficit and K deficiency and simultaneous stress (water deficit and K deficiency) combined with two levels of Si (absence and presence), arranged in completely randomized blocks in four replications. (AU)