Plant Nutrition

A closer look at photosynthesis

What is nutrition?
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 EAT BULAGA
guessing words related to photosynthesis
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10 words, 2 teams

winning team will get plus points for unit test

Nutrition
or feeding is taking in useful organic
substances for health and growth.
 Where do the organic
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substances come from?

Organic substances are made by plants through...

Photosynthesis
making with light

the process by which

plants synthesise
carbohydrates from raw
materials using energy
from light
The Photosynthesis Equation

/re
 The Photosynthesis Equation

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balanced
chemical
equation
word
equation
The Photosynthesis Equation

/re
Where does photosynthesis
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occur?
Chloroplasts

Photosynthesis occurs
in chloroplasts of a
plant's leaf cell.

Chloroplasts contain a
green pigment called
chlorophyll.
 Chlorophyll transfers The molecules react
Chlorophyll allows
the energy to water with each other and
plants to capture
and carbon dioxide produce glucose and
energy from light
molecules oxygen
 Glucose
CH2 OH
Glucose is a kind of
O
carbohydrate or sugar.
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Made in leaves OH OH

OH OH
Contains the energy from
Glucose
sunlight
Molecule
Review
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 How a plant uses carbohydrates
Releasing useful energy Making nectar to
attract pollinators
Storing for later use
Making amino acids to
Making sucrose for
make proteins
transport

Making cellulose to build Making other

cell walls substances
 Releasing useful energy

Glucose is used by the plant to provide

energy for various activities or the cell.

e.g.: energy is needed to move mineral

ions into the root hair by active
transport.
 Storing for later use

Plants make much more glucose

than they need to use for energy
immediately.

Glucose is stored by turning it into

starch.

Millions of starch molecules clump

together to form starch grains.
 Making sucrose for transport

Plants can only make carbohydrates

in leaf.

To transport the glucose from the

leaf to the other parts, the plant
change the glucose to a bigger
Why sucrose? sugar molecules called sucrose.
Sucrose contain more energy
than glucose so it is more The sucrose is then carried away by
energy efficient
the phloem tubes.
Making cellulose to build cell walls

As plant grows, they make new

cells and they need cellulose to
build the cell walls.

Cellulose is made from a long

chain of glucose.
 Making nectar to attract pollinators (1)

Plants reproduce sexually with

pollen grains and ovule.

For successful reproduction, the

pollen grains must reach the ovule.
Since they are not able to move,
they need help from pollinators
(bee, birds, butterfly).
What does flower use to
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attract pollinators?
Flower
nectar
BEE

FLOWER
 Making nectar to attract pollinators (2)

No animals is going to pollinate the

flower unless it gets a reward, so
flowers produce nectar that
animal can feed on.

Nectar is a sweet liquid secreted

by many flowers to attract nectar
pollinators.
Making amino acids to make protein
Plants use some of the glucose to
make amino acids. Amino acids is
the building block of proteins.

In order to make amino acids from

glucose, plants take in nitrate ions
through the root hairs by active
transport.

Plants need proteins for it to grow

quickly and strongly.
Making chlorophyll

normal leaf leaf with nitrogen

deficiency

To make chlorophyll, plant need nitrate ions

and magnesium ions.

Without these ions, plant's leaves will look

yellow because chlorophyll production would
be limited.
 Importance of Nitrate Ions and
Magnesium Ions

Deficiency
a state of not having, or leaf with
magnesium normal leaf
not having enough, of
something that is needed deficiency
The structure of a leaf

Vascular bundle

collections of xylem
tubes and phloem
vesseles next to each
other, which form the
veins in a leaf
 Epidermis
Leaf Tissue The outer layer of tissue on a
plant.

Cuticle
A thin layer of wax that covers
the upper surface of a leaf.

Palisade mesophyll
The layer of cells directly
under the upper epidermis,
where photosynthesis
happens.
 Spongy mesophyll
The layer of cells directly under
Leaf Tissue palisade mesophyll, where
some photosynthesis happens

Stomata (singular: stoma)

Openings in the surface of a
leaf, commonly in the lower
surface

Guard cells
A pair of cells that surrounds a
stoma which control whether
the stoma is open or closed
Review
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A transverse section of a leaf tissue under the microscope
 Factors affecting photosynthesis

The rate of photosynthesis is

affected by several
environmental factors: Rate of photosynthesis

how fast photosynthesis

Raw materials (carbon
occurs
dioxide, water)
Sunlight
Temperature
 Factors affecting photosynthesis
The rate of photosynthesis is affected by several
environmental factors

The supply of the The quantity of The temperature

raw materials sunlight
affects the
carbon dioxide provides energy activity of the
and water for the reactions enzyme
If the amount of water is
limited, can a plant still
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photosynthesise?
 Yes, it can!
But, the photosynthesis will
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occur slower than normal

 Limiting factors of photosynthesis

Limiting factor

A factor that is in short Light intensity Carbon dioxide

supply, therefore limits
how quickly the plant
can photosynthesise

Temperature Stomata
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis
1 Light intensity

As light intensity increases, the rate of

photosynthesis increases, until the the
plant is photosynthesising as fast as it
can.

At this point, even if the light becomes

brighter, the rate of photosynthesis
cannot increase anymore
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis
2 Carbon dioxide concentration

The more carbon dioxide a plant is

given, the faster it can
photosynthesise.

But once the carbon dioxide

concentration reaches a certain level,
there is no further increase in the rate
of photosynthesis.
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis
3 Temperature

Photosynthesis requires enzymes to

carry out the reaction. As these enzymes
have an optimum temperature,
photosynthesis also has an optimum
temperature, usually at 25° C.

At the optimum temperature, plants

photosynthesise the fastest.

At low temperatures, plants photosynthesise slowly. At very high temperatures,

enzymes denature, also slowing the rates of photosynthesis.
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis

4 Stomata

CO2 diffuses into the leaf through the

stomata, if the stomata are closed,
photosynthesis cannot take place.

Stomata often close if the weather is

very hot and sunny, to prevent water
loss through evaporation.

On a really hot or bright day, photosynthesis may slow down

Limiting factors of
photosynthesis
(summarised) Factor Condition The rate of photosynthesis

high increase
Light intensity
low decrease

approaching optimum increase

Temperature
past the optimum decrease

Carbon high increase

dioxide
concentration low decrease
Experiments on factors affecting
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photosynthesis
 Investigating the necessity for light for
photosynthesis

Control
A standard sample that you use as a
comparison, to find the effect of
changing a variable
Control
Destarching
Leaving a plant in the dark for long
enough for it to use up its starch
stores
 Investigating the necessity for light for
photosynthesis

Testing the leaf for starch

The leaf will be tested for starch

by covering it with iodine
solution.

Leaf parts that contain starch

Presence of Leaf color after
will turn blue black after being starch adding iodine solution
covered with iodine solution.
Yes starch (+) Blue black
The presence of starch indicates
No starch (-) White/yellowish
that the leaf has been
photosynthesising.
Why does the leaf need to be
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boiled?
To kill the cell which disrupt the cell membranes and
softens the cuticle and cell walls. This allows the
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iodine solution to penetrate the cells and react with

any starch present.
 Investigating the necessity for chlorophyll
for photosynthesis

The leaf on the left is a variegated

leaf.

The green parts contain chlorophyll

and photosynthesise to make starch.

The white part of the leaf does not

contain chlorophyll, so does not
photosynthesise.
Sample question
Sample question
 Investigating the effect of CO2 concentration
on the rate of photosynthesis
Hydrogencarbonate indicator
is used to measure carbon dioxide
level in aquatic system.

It changes colour according to

how much carbon dioxide there is.

purple: no CO2

red/orange: a little CO 2
(ordinary air)

yellow: a lot of CO 2
Investigating the effect of CO 2 concentration
on the rate of photosynthesis

after
1 hour
 Sample
question
photosynthesis
 Sample
question
photosynthesis
CO2
purple photosynthesis
CO2
yellow
Investigating the effect of varying light
intensity on the rate of photosynthesis

This experiment uses

aquatic plant, why?
Investigating the effect of varying light
intensity on the rate of photosynthesis
Use of aquatic plant
because they are specialised to
produce oxygen while submerged
under water.

We know the plant is

photosynthesising if the plant
produce oxygen bubbles.

The faster the rate of

photosynthesis, the more oxygen
bubbles will be produced.
Sample question
Sample question the shorter the
distance between
light and plant

the higher the light

intensity

the faster the rate of

photosynthesis

more oxygen bubbles

produced
End of topic!
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