Evaluation of silicon availability in paddy soils by an
extraction using a phosphate buffer solution Evaluation de la biodisponibilit de la silice dans les sols de rizire par extraction en tampon phosphate KATO Naoto Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station, Omagari, 014-01, Japan A chemical extraction method using an acetate buffer solution (pH4) has been traditionally used for the evaluation of silicon (Si) availability of paddy soils. However, when the calcium silicate fertilizers prepared from slags were previously applied to soils, Si availability in the soils is very likely to be overestimated by this method. It was shown previously that the soil ability to supply Si continuously into the soil solution was an important parameter to determine the Si uptake by rice plant. Therefore, not only the amount of Si present in the soil solution but also the amount of Si in the soil solid phase which can easily enter the soil solution when the Si concentration in the soil solution decreases should be taken into account for the estimation of the amount of plant-available Si in soils. In this study, it was assumed that rice plant takes up the Si present in the soil solution and the Si adsorbed by the soil solid phase which can be desorbed easily. Since the Si adsorption by soils is a competitive reaction with the phosphorus adsorption, the adsorbed Si could be efficiently extracted by the phosphorus (P) solution. Therefore, in this study, the amount of Si extracted from paddy soils by a phosphate buffer solution was measured and compared with the amount of Si taken up by rice plant (Oryza sativa L.) which was determined in pot experiments. The amount of Si extracted was analyzed by the colorimetric method which was modified to avoid an interference of a large quantity of P present in the extractant. The effects of solution pH, P concentration, and temperature on the amount of Si extracted were also examined. As a result, it was shown that the amount of Si extracted increased with increasing P concentration and temperature, and decreased with increasing solution pH. A positive correlation was obtained between the amount of Si extracted and that of Si taken up by the plant even when the soil samples had previously received the slag fertilizers. The simple extraction method proposed here was found to be a better method for the evaluation of Si availability in soils than the traditional method using acetate buffer solution. Keywords : available Si, paddy soil, silicon, soil testing Mots cls : silicium, biodisponibilit, sol de rizire, analyse du sol