Despite being a non-essential element for plant growth, silicon increases their tolerance to biotic stresses, such as pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses, such as drought or salinity. The effects of this element, which is the second most abundant in the earth’s crust, have been little studied in general, but in olive the knowledge was even more scarce. Faced with this gap in the scientific literature, the Arboriculture group of the University of Córdoba has been a pioneer in the search for the results that the application of this element can have on the olive tree, a crop that is characterized by its low accumulation of silicon, as collected Intercompany. The team made up of researchers from the María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence–Department of Agronomy of the University of Córdoba (DAUCO) Ricardo Fernández Escobar, María Benlloch and Kelly Nascimiento have published what will be the basis for the next olive grove fertilization work with silicon: they have defined the most effective dose, the method of application and its consequences in terms of absorption, accumulation and distribution of silicon in the organs of the plants of two varieties Arbequina and Picual.
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