Plant nutrition

● Taking in useful substances is called feeding or nutrition

● Substances made by living things are said to be organic substances
● Substances provided by nature is inorganic substances like carbon dioxide, water and minerals
form air and soil

● Photosynthesis
○ The process by which plants manufacture carbohydrates from raw materials using energy
from sunlight

● Chlorophyll
○ Chlorophyll is the pigment which makes plants look green. It is kept inside the chloroplasts
of plant cells
○ The sunlight falls on a chlorophyll molecule, some of the energy in the light is absorbed.
The chlorophyll molecule then releases the energy. The released energy makes carbon
dioxide combine with water, with the help of enzymes inside the chloroplast. Glucose is
made, it contains energy that was originally in the sunlight

● Photosynthesis equation
○ Carbon dioxide + water → (sunlight/chlorophyll) → glucose + oxygen
○ 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

● Leaf structure
○ The leaf consists of a broad, flat part called the lamina which is joined to the rest of the
plant by a leaf stalk or petiole. Running through the petiole are vascular bundles, these
contain tubes which carry substances to and from the leaf.
○ The top and bottom of the leaf are covered with a layer of closely fitting cells called the
epidermis. These cells do not contain chloroplasts. Their function is to protect the inner
layers of cells in the leaf.
○ The cells of the upper epidermis often secrete a waxy substance, that lies on top of them,
it is known as the cuticle which helps stop water evaporating from the leaf
○ In lower epidermis, there are small openings called stomata. Each stoma is surrounded by a
pair of sausage-shaped guard cells which can open or close the hole. Guard cells unlike
other cells in the epidermis, do not contain chloroplasts
○ The middle layers of the leaf are called the mesophyll. These cells all contain chloroplasts.
The cells nearer to the top of the leaf are arranged like a fence or palisade and they form
the palisade layer.
○ The cells beneath them are rounded and arranged quite loosely, with large air spaces
between them. They form the spongy layer
 ○ Each vein contains large, thick walled xylem vessels for carrying water. There are also
smaller, thin-walled phloem tubes for carrying away sucrose and other substances that the
lead has made.

Leaf adaptations
● Carbon dioxide
○ There is not very much available, because only about .04% of the air is carbon dioxide. The
leaf is held out into the air by the stem and the leaf stalk, and its large surface area helps
to expose it to as much air as possible
○ The cells which need the carbon dioxide are the mesophyll cells inside the leaf. Behind
each stoma is an air space which connects up with other air spaces between the spongy
mesophyll cells. The carbon dioxide can therefore diffuse to all cell walls and cell
membranes of each cell and into the chloroplast.

● Sunlight
○ The position of a leaf and its broad, flat surface help it to obtain as much sunlight as
possible
○ The cells that need the sunlight are the mesophyll cells. The thinness of the leaf allows
the sunlight to penetrate right through it and reach all the cells. To help this, the
epidermal cells are transparent with no chloroplasts.

● Water
○ Water is obtained from the soil. It is absorbed by the root hairs, and carried up to the
leaf in the xylem vessels. It then travels from the xylem vessels to the mesophyll cells by
osmosis.
 Adaptation Function

Supported by stem and petiole To expose as much of the leaf as possible to the sunlight
and air

Large surface area To expose as large an area as possible to the sunlight and
air

Thin To allow sunlight to penetrate to all cells, to allow CO2 to

diffuse in and O2 to diffuse out

Stomata in lower epidermis To allow CO2 to diffuse in and O2 to diffuse out

Air spaces in spongy mesophyll To allow CO2 to diffuse in and diffuse to and from all cells

No chloroplasts in epidermal cells To allow sunlight to penetrate to the mesophyll layer

Chloroplasts containing chlorophyll present in the To absorb energy from sunlight so that CO2 will combine
mesophyll layer with H2O

Palisade cells arranged end on To keep as few cell walls as possible between sunlight and
the chloroplasts

Chloroplasts inside palisade cells often arranged To expose as much chlorophyll as possible to sunlight
broadside on

Chlorophyll arranged on flat membranes inside To expose as much chlorophyll as possible to sunlight
the chloroplasts

Xylem vessels within short distance of every To supply water to cells in the leaf, some of which will be
mesophyll cell used in photosynthesis

Phloem tubes within short distance of every To take away sucrose and other organic products of
mesophyll cell photosynthesis

● Sucrose
○ It is used for fruit growth or stored in fruits
○ It is used for shoot growth
○ It is used for root growth or stored in roots as starch
○ It is transported in phloem tubes

● Glucose
○ Glucose has the formula C6H12O6
○ It is a simple sugar, it is soluble in water and quite a reactive substance.
○ First, being reactive, it might get involved in chemical reactions where it is not wanted.
Secondly, it would dissolve in water and might be lost from the cell. Thirdly, when
 dissolved it would increase the concentration of the solution in the cell which could cause
damage.
○ Glucose is therefore converted to starch to be stored

● Starch
○ It is a polysaccharide, made of many glucose molecules.
○ Being a large molecule, it is not very reactive and not very soluble. It can be made into
granules which can be easily stored inside the chloroplasts

Uses of glucose
● Used for energy
○ Some of glucose which a leaf will be broken down by respiration to release energy
● Used to make proteins and other organic substances
○ Plants can also use the sugars they have made in photosynthesis to make amino acids, which
can be built up into proteins. To do this they need nitrogen.
○ Unfortunately, the nitrogen in the air is unreactive therefore the plants have to be
supplied with nitrogen in a more reactive form, usually as nitrate ions.
○ They absorb nitrate ions from the soil through root hairs by diffusion and active
transport. The nitrate ions combine with glucose to make amino acids. The amino acids are
then strung together to form protein molecules.
● Changed to sucrose for transport
○ A molecule has to be small and soluble to be transported, glucose has both these
properties, but it is also reactive therefore is converted to sucrose to be transported to
other parts of the plant.
○ Sucrose molecules are small and soluble but less reactive than glucose. They dissolve in sap
in the phloem vessels can are distributed to whichever parts of the plant need them
○ The sucrose later on can be turned back into glucose to be broken down to release energy
or turned into starch and stored.

Element Nitrogen Magnesium

Mineral salt Nitrates or ammonium ions Magnesium ions

Why needed To make proteins To make chlorophyll

Deficiency Weak growth, yellow leaves Yellowing between the veins of

leaves

● Testing leaves for starch

○ Iodine is used to test for starch. A blue-black color appears if starch is present.
○ Before testing, you have to boil the leaf in water and alcohol to remove cell membranes and
chlorophyll.
Limiting factors
● Something present in the environment in such short supply that it restricts life processes
● Sunlight
○ As light intensity increases, the rate of photosynthesis will increase until the plant is
photosynthesising as fast as it can.
● Carbon dioxide
○ The more carbon dioxide present, the more it can photosynthesise.
● Temperature
○ Higher the temperature, the higher the rate of photosynthesis
● Stomata
○ If stomata is closed, it cannot photosynthesise but it can close on hot days to prevent
water class