Root silicification of grasses and crops from the Pampean region and its relevance to silica and silicophytolith content of soils.

PAOLICCHI, MICAELA; BENVENUTO, MARIA LAURA; FERNÁNDEZ HONAINE, MARIANA; OSTERRIETH, MARGARITA

PLANT AND SOIL

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019 vol. 444 p. 351 - 363

0032-079X

Silicophytoliths contribute to the pool of amorphous silica that is incorporatedinto the soils acting as intermediary in the biogeochemical cycle of silicon.Most studies focus their attention in the production of aerial parts of plants butnot in roots. In order to advance into the knowledge about the relevance ofroot amorphous silica in soil Si cycle, we studied the silicophytolith content ofroots from grasses and crops, and from soil?s roots of different sites fromPampean region, Argentina, one of the most fertile and used for agriculturalpractices.Roots from three crops and seven grasses and from soils under three different useswere studied. Silicophytoliths were extracted by a calcination technique.All the species produced silicophytoliths derived from vascular and/or endodermaltissues. Silicophytolith content was higher in Pampean grasses (6.34?15.38%) thanin crops (0.01?1.58%). Root silicophytolith content in the pasture was 10 timeshigher than in the other sites.The potential input of root silica to soils is related to the type and cover ofvegetation, the amount of roots in soils and the silicophytoliths accumulated inroots. Results suggested that root silicophytoliths should be consider in futurestudies of biogeochemical cycle of Si.