Adding silicon to soil could help protect canola from clubroot

Adding silicon to soil could help battle clubroot, a deadly disease in canola crops, new University of Alberta research shows.

The study, the first known to explore the effects of silicon on the disease specifically in canola, showed that mixing the element with soil reduced overall clubroot symptoms in susceptible plants — those not bred for resistance to the disease — by up to 46 per cent. 

The greenhouse experiments revealed that infection was slowed and the formation of galls on the plants was reduced, when silicon, in the form of a water-soluble salt, was included in the soil. 

As a result, the treatment also appeared to improve the height, root length and drought tolerance of the plants, even in the presence of the clubroot pathogen, the study found.