Aiming to quantify the severity of Asian rust, the content of the chlorophylls a and b and carotenoids as well some nutritional aspects of soybean plants supplied with silicon in the form of soluble potassium silicate solution an experiment was carried out in a random block design with 6 treatments and four replicates. Treatments comprised potassium six silicate doses (0 mg/L, 56 mg/L, 112 mg/L, 168 mg/L, 224 mg/L and 280 mg/L). Plants were inoculated at the V4 stage and evaluated for rust severity five times starting at the 9th day after inoculation weekly. The severity data were integrated with time obtaining the area under the number lesions progress curve (AUNLC). At the end of experiment, shoots from plants that received increasing silicon doses were sampled in order to analyze the chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, lignin, macro and micronutrients. Adding silicon reduced AUNLC and increase the level of chlorophyll b, carotenoids, lignin, P, Ca, S and Zn in soybean plants.
Potassium silicate; Glycine max; Phakopsora pachyrhizi
