Changes in the Physiological and Morphometric Characteristics and Biomass Distribution of Forage Grasses Growing under Conditions of Drought and Silicon Application

Abstract

Research on mitigating the effects of water scarcity by applying silicon to perennial grasses is still insufficient. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of spring and summer droughts and silicon applications on gas exchange parameters; the morphometric characteristics of root systems; and the biomass distribution of Festulolium braunii, Festuca arundinacea, and Lolium perenne cultivars. Plants were treated with a drought during the tillering phase once a year (during spring or summer regrowth) for 21 days. Foliar nutrition with silicon was applied twice under the drought conditions. Grasses in a pot experiment were cut three times during vegetation. The plants that were exposed to the drought had lower values of the gas exchange parameters than those that were well watered. The beneficial effect of silicon was related to the reduction of excessive water loss through transpiration during the spring drought. Under the drought and silicon applications, the water use efficiency, root dry mass, and length increased compared to the control. Moreover, silicon increased the proportion of both the finer and thicker roots in F. braunii and L. perenne, while the distribution of the root diameter changed least in the more resistant F. arundinacea. Silicon also reduced the carbon content in the roots and increased root carbon accumulation. Our results indicated that Si may help perennial forage grasses cope better with drought stress. This was due to the allocation of carbon to the roots to develop the fine root network, increasing the length and root biomass and improving the water use efficiency.