Abstract In the era of climate change, due to increased incidences of a wide range of various environmental stresses, especially biotic and abiotic stresses around the globe, the performance of plants can be affected by these stresses. After oxygen, silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust. It is not considered as an important element, but can be thought of as a multi-beneficial quasi-essential element for plants. This review on silicon presents an overview of the versatile role of this element in a variety of plants. Plants absorb silicon through roots from the rhizospheric soil in the form of silicic or monosilicic acid. Silicon plays a key metabolic function in living organisms due to its relative abundance in the atmosphere. Plants with higher content of silicon in shoot or root are very few prone to attack by pests, and exhibit increased stress resistance. However, the more remarkable impact of silicon is the decrease in the number of seed intensities/soil-borne and foliar diseases of major plant varieties that are infected by biotrophic, hemi-biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens. The amelioration in disease symptoms are due to the effect of silicon on a some factors involved in providing host resistance namely, duration of incubation, size, shape and number of lesions. The formation of a mechanical barrier beneath the cuticle and in the cell walls by the polymerization of silicon was first proposed as to how this element decreases plant disease severity. The current understanding of how this element enhances resistance in plants subjected to biotic stress, the exact functions and mechanisms by which it modulates plant biology by potentiating the host defence mechanism needs to be studied using genomics, metabolomics and proteomics. The role of silicon in helping the plants in adaption to biotic stress has been discussed which will help to plan in a systematic way the development of more sustainable agriculture for food security and safety in the future.

Palha, espiga e estigma de milho foram extraídos com água, etanol aquoso, metanol aquoso e acetato de etila, respectivamente. O conteúdo fenólico total (TPC), conteúdo flavonóide total (TFC), conteúdo cetoesteróide total (TKC) e atividades antioxidantes [atividade de sequestro de radicais, poder redutor, e poder antioxidante-redutor férrico (FRAP) de 2,2'-difenil-1-picrilhidrazil (DPPH), 2,4,6-tri(2-piridil)-1,3,5-triazina (TPTZ) e 2,2'-azinobis(3-etilbenzotiazolina-6-ácido sulfônico) (ABTS)] dos extratos foram identificados. Os principais componentes antioxidantes foram posteriormente determinados e quantificados por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (HPLC). Os resultados revelaram que etanol e metanol aquosos foram mais eficientes na extração de constituintes antioxidantes da espiga, palha e estigma do milho. Oito componentes antioxidantes principais foram detectados como subprodutos e os conteúdos de quatro componentes antioxidantes principais foram determinados. O trabalho presente revelou que a espiga e palha de milho mostram valores de TPC, TFC e TKC altos e similares, e atividade antioxidante com o estigma de milho que podem ser usados como potenciais candidatos na prevenção de doenças relacionadas a vários subprodutos oxidantes do metabolismo humano.

Cornhusk, corncob, and stigma maydis were extracted with water, aqueous ethanol, aqueous methanol, and ethyl acetate, respectively. The total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), total ketosteroid contents (TKC), and antioxidant activities [2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) radical-scavenging activity, reducing power, and ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP)] of the above extracts were investigated. Their main antioxidant components were further determined and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results revealed that the aqueous ethanol and aqueous methanol were more efficient in extracting antioxidant constituents from cornhusk, corncob, and stigma maydis. Eight main antioxidant components were detected from above three by-products, and the contents of four main antioxidant components were determined. The present work revealed that the cornhusk and corncob showed similar high TPC, TFC, TKC, and antioxidant activities with stigma maydis, and could be used as potential candidates for the prevention of diseases related to various oxidant by-products of human metabolism.