Silicon is the most used element found in earth crust. It is mostly used for modern life. You are reading this article in your computer where silicon contributed mostly. Also there are various electronic and power sources are based on silicon. Beside computer chips, silicon is used for integrated circuits, transistors, silicon diodes, liquid crystal displays, and various other electronic and switching devices. In aspect of elements abundance in the earth, silicon covers 25 percent. It is the seven-most abundant element in the universe, where second-most abundant element on the planet. Although silicon is mostly popular for its use in electronics and power sector but nowadays scientists are using silicon to solve another problem in the field of food production.
Food production system is being developed day by day considering large increasing population, climate change. Scientists are inventing new technology for more crop production, crop pest control, post-harvest technology etc. Crop pest is the great problem for crop production. It results great loss for crop production, sometime due to large pest attack, few crops finally become unable to produce yield. So different pest control technology initiated considering chemical, biological technologies. But in recent a team scientists invented a technology using silicon to control an important insect in tomato plant. A team of entomologists and botanists at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi and the University of Pretoria has found that adding silicon to soil can help tomato plants fight off the destructive South American tomato pinworm. Their research paper has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
South American tomato pinworm is a devastating invasive global insect pest of tomato, Solanum lycopersicum (Solanaceae). The scientific name of this insect is Tuta absoluta. This insect has
migrated to north America, Europe and Africa and become major pests for tomato. Crops are highly affected by this insect and farmers are losing billion dollars per year. Farmers applied chemical pesticide to control this insect but it has been resistant to most of the chemical pesticide. So researchers tried long time to find new way to control this invasive insect. These pinworms, also known as tomato leaf miners, have become resistant to heavily used chemical pesticides, says ICIPE molecular biologist Fathiya Khamis.
In recent scientists used silicon to control tomato leaf miners. It was known to scientists that silicon can fortify some crops against pests. Some crops use this element to strengthen cell structure. When silicon is applied to tomato plant, it creates a biochemical defense system against pests. Now, Torto, Khamis and their colleagues have uncovered some specifics of how silicon transforms tomatoes into pinworm-killing machines. The process being defensive against pinworm has been uncovered in their research. The researchers found that adding silicon to the soil caused the plants to produce a dark goo at the base of the tiny hairs on their stems. When the researchers supplemented tomato plant’s soil with silicon containing nanoparticles and exposed the plants to pinworm moths, this mysterious dark goo are produced.
Generally, pinworm lays eggs on leaves of tomato plant. But in this research, it is found that the moths appeared to prefer laying their eggs on the goo rather than the leaves of the plant. After hatching, the pinworms consumed the goo that results died of pinworms. Scientists revealed the causes of dying of pinworms after consuming goo. The researchers analyzed the goo and found a blend and sugar. They also found that this goo caused the changes to the microbiome of tomato lead miners leading to changes in the excrement and emitted gases that attract two different species of pinworm-killing insects that feed on pinworms. It is a great journey in the field of biological control of pests. It will open a new opportunity to the agriculturist to ensure sustainable future applying biological control of crop pests.
