The increase in world's population is accompanied with increase in demand for food. Climate change worsens the situation by making plants more prone to abiotic and biotic stresses. The defense responses produced by plants against various stresses are controlled by the stress responsive genes which in turn are regulated by a number of elements. One such inorganic element that plays an important role in upregulating the expression of stress responsive genes is silicon (Si). The beneficial effects of Si on plant growth are attributed to physical, biochemical and molecular aspects. Application of silicon increases the antioxidant enzymes activities, relative leaf water content, improves ionic homeostasis etc. Si increases the activity of defense-related enzymes, antimicrobial compounds production and regulates systemic signalling pathways. Thus silicon has the ability to improve overall plant performance under stress conditions by working at physiological and molecular levels.