نبيل كاظم عبود

As climate change intensifies, the agricultural sector faces escalating challenges in maintaining productivity and environmental sustainability. Among emerging strategies to enhance climate resilience, silicon (Si) has gained attention for its multifaceted role in soil and plant systems. This review synthesizes current scientific understanding of silicon-mediated mechanisms that contribute to climate change mitigation and crop improvement. Silicon enhances soil physical stability through increased aggregation and improved water retention, stimulates beneficial microbial activity, and modifies soil chemistry by optimizing pH and nutrient availability. Mechanistically, silicon contributes to carbon sequestration via phytolith formation and phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC), a long-term stable carbon pool in soils. It also mitigates greenhouse gas emissions by reducing methane (CH₄) through enhanced methanotrophic activity, lowering nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions via pH regulation and improved nitrogen use efficiency, and indirectly minimizing CO₂ release through greater carbon stabilization. Furthermore, Si strengthens plant tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, and heavy metals, as well as biotic stresses from pests and pathogens, primarily through the activation of antioxidant enzymes and structural fortification of tissues. Overall, this review highlights silicon as a pivotal element for integrating soil–plant–atmosphere processes, offering a sustainable strategy to enhance climate resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve global crop productivity. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2026.