Nutrition in Plants

 Structure of the dicotyledonous leaf

A
I

G
C

D E

Part Name Feature(s) Function(s)

A Cuticle • Waxy and prevent excessive evaporation of

waterproof water from the leaf’s inner cells.

• Transparent Allows sunlight to reach inner cells

for photosynthesis
B Palisade • Has the most has highest amount of chlorophyll
mesophyll chloroplasts present to trap maximum amount
cell within cell of sunlight in a given time
⇒∴maximum photosynthetic
activity in a given time
• Cells are to trap maximum amount of
closely sunlight in a given time
packed in ⇒∴maximum photosynthetic
vertical activity in a given time
alignment
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Part Name Feature(s) Function(s)

C Spongy • Contain Chlorophyll traps light for

mesophyll chloroplasts photosynthesis
cell
• Film of water To dissolve gases, e.g. carbon
on outer cell dioxide in intercellular air spaces
wall will dissolve into film of water
before diffusing into the cells.

• Cells are Allows the air space to be

loosely interconnected for rapid diffusion
arranged of gaseous carbon dioxide to the
with air cells
spaces
D Stomata Opening through which gases and
(plural: water vapour diffuse into and out
stoma) of the leaf.

Usually closes to:

Opening • Reduce amount of water
surrounded by a vapour lost through excessive
pair of guard transpiration due to: Hot and
cells low humidity (e.g. dry) weather,
windy conditions etc.
• Ensure a high concentration of
carbon dioxide in air spaces for
maximum photosynthetic
activity in leaf during daybreak.
E Guard Controls the size of the stoma.
cells
* A pair is required to form an
opening between them.

Contains the least number of

 Contain
chloroplasts among the
chloroplasts
photosynthetic cells.
 Inner cell wall
Uneven thickness of the cell wall
is thicker than
results in uneven expansion of the
outer cell wall
guard cell, therefore guard cells
curve.

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Parts Name Feature(s) Function(s)

F Air space  Gases and Facilitates the diffusion of gases

water vapour rapidly to spongy mesophyll cells.
present
Usually has a higher concentration
 All air spaces
of oxygen and water vapour than
are linked
the surrounding air outside leaf,
continuously
thus maintaining a concentration
between
gradient for diffusion of oxygen
spongy
and water vapour out of the leaf
mesophyll
through the stomata.
cells in leaf
G Phloem Translocation of sucrose and
amino acids from leaves to the
cells of the plant

• Companion mitochondria release energy

cells have needed for active transport of
large number sucrose and amino acids in sieve
of tube elements.
mitochondria.

• Holes in allow rapid or easy flow of sucrose

sieve plate and amino acids through sieve
tube elements

H Xylem Long and narrow lumen

• Has only cell
Water and dissolved mineral salts
wall
carried up xylem in an unbroken
• Cytoplasm
continuous stream.
absent
• Lignin
Lignin deposited on xylem walls
deposited on
Increases its mechanical strength
walls
to support the plant stem upright

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 Parts Name Feature(s) Function(s)

I Epidermis Cover the entire surface of plants,

(epidermal e.g. leaves, to protect inner cells
cell) • Thick from physical damage or bacterial
cellulose cell entry.
wall
• Does not Contains guard cells at intervals
contain
chloroplasts Note: In land plants, lower
epidermis has more guard cells
and thinner cuticle on its surface
than the upper epidermis.

 Action of Guard Cells

Thicker inner cell

wall

stomata

Thinner outer
cell wall

chloroplast

Stomata closed stomata open

• During the day, the chloroplasts trap sunlight to produce sugar

• Water potential in the cell sap of the central vacuole is hence
lowered
• Water molecules enter the guard cells from the surrounding
epidermal cells by osmosis
• Guard cells become more turgid
• As inner cell wall of guard cell is thicker than the outer cell wall,
the inner cell wall expands less
• ∴ guard cell curve more, widening the size of the stomata
between the guard cells

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 Photosynthesis

 Importance of photosynthesis

• Source of energy
⇒ Sunlight (ultimate source of energy) is converted to chemical
energy in carbohydrate (e.g. starch stored in plants)
⇒ animals obtain these energy directly or indirectly by eating the
plants containing the sugar or starch.

• Maintain the oxygen and carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere.

 Equations

• Word equation:
Light trapped by
Carbon dioxide + water chlorophyll glucose + oxygen

• Chemical equation:
Light trapped by
6CO2 + 6H2O chlorophyll C6H12O6 + 6O2

 Laboratory investigations

Usually to prove that photosynthesis has occurred, one would carry

out the starch test on the leaf.

However, one must first make sure there is no starch in the leaf at the
start of the experiment, i.e. must destarch the plant. To remove the
starch from the plant, simply place the plant in darkness (e.g. in a
dark cupboard) for a few days.

During destarching of the plant,

the starch in the leaf cells are converted back to glucose, where it is
used by the leaf cells as respiratory substrate to release energy
needed for cellular activities.

Some of the starch are also converted to sucrose and translocated to

other parts of the leaf via the phloem.

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• To prove that a leaf has photosynthesized

(1) Destarch the plant by placing the plant in a dark cupboard for
at least one day.

(2) Do starch test on a leaf to confirm absence of starch.

(3) Place the plant under the sunlight for a few hours.

(4) Remove a leaf from the plant.

(5) Boil the leaf for at least fifteen minutes – to kill the leaf cells
and stop all chemical activities within.

(6) Immerse the leaf in a boiling tube of hot ethanol until the leaf
has become white.
Ethanol would dissolve the chlorophyll

hot water ethanol

leaf

(7) Rinse the white leaf in the hot water to soften it.

(8) Place the treated leaf onto a white tile.

(9) Add a few drops of iodine solution.

(10) The iodine solution would turn blue-black, showing the

presence of starch in the leaf.

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• To investigate if carbon dioxide is needed for photosynthesis

Results: leaf from test plant remains yellow while leaf from
control plant turns blue-black

sodium hydroxide (to water

absorb carbon
dioxide)

Test plant Control plant

• To investigate if chlorophyll is needed for photosynthesis

and to investigate if light is needed for photosynthesis

Results: Disc 1 remains yellow (due to absence of chlorophyll)

Disc 2 turns blue-black
Disc 3 remains yellow (due to absence of light and
chlorophyll)
Disc 4 remains yellow (due to absence of light)

black paper
1
3
2
green area
4
white area

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 Rate of Photosynthesis

To measure the rate of photosynthesis, one usually measures the

number of bubbles released in one minute or one hour by a water plant,
e.g. Hydrilla.

oxygen

Hydrilla

support

 Factors affecting rate of photosynthesis

Primary Factor Reason

Enzyme activity requires a suitable
↑ Temperature, ↑ rate
temperature
Light energy trapped by chlorophyll
↑ Light intensity, ↑ rate is converted into chemical energy in
glucose.
Carbon dioxide is a raw material
↑ Carbon dioxide
required for the process of
concentration, ↑ rate photosynthesis.

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 • Limiting factor

Any factor that directly affects a process if the quantity of that

factor is changed

rate of
photosynthesis

r light intensity

 At low light intensity, as light intensity increases, rate of

photosynthesis increases

Light intensity is a limiting factor

 At high light intensity, after a specific light intensity (i.e. r

units), although light intensity increases, rate of
photosynthesis remains constant

Light intensity is no longer a limiting factor

Some other factor, e.g. carbon dioxide concentration, is

limiting the photosynthetic process.

 Fate of Products of Photosynthesis

 Glucose

1 Cellular Plant cells uses glucose as a raw material for

respiration respiration to release energy.

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 Examples of uses of energy in plant cells
include:
 For growth
 For active transport of dissolved mineral salts
from surrounding soil solution into cytoplasm
of root hair cells.
2 Nitrate is absorbed from soil by active transport
and diffusion into root hair cells. In the leaf
Formation of
cells, nitrate ions react with glucose, formed in
proteins
photosynthesis, to form amino acids, which in
turn form proteins.
3 Glucose is converted to sucrose and
Translocation transported in the phloem to other parts of the
plant, i.e. roots, fruits.
4 Formation of Excess glucose is stored as starch in the leaf
starch cells.

 Oxygen

1 Cellular Plant cells uses oxygen as a raw material for

respiration aerobic respiration to release energy.
2 Excess oxygen diffuses out of the leaf through
the stoma, as a waste product, to the
Excretion
surrounding air (most likely during high light
intensity)

 Minerals ion essential for plants

Mineral ion Effect on plants

Required for the synthesis of chlorophyll.
Magnesium Lack of magnesium would result in small yellow
leaves.
Required for synthesis of amino acids and
enzymes.
Nitrate
Lack of nitrate would result in poor growth, i.e.
leaves are small and few.

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 Transport in Plants
 Vascular bundles in dicotyledonous plants

Dicotyledonous plants are a group of flowering plants whose seeds have

a pair of cotyledons (food reserves for growth of embryo plant). The
major veins in the leaves of such plants are usually branched.
The vascular bundle consists of conducting tissues (xylem and phloem)
as well as supportive and protective tissue.

 In roots

xylem

phloem

 In stems

phloem

xylem

 In leaves
xylem

phloem 14
 Pathway of food

Glucose synthesized in photosynthesis is converted to sucrose and

amino acids in leaf cells.

The sucrose and amino acids are then transported from the leaves to the
others parts of the plants, e.g. flowers, fruits and roots, through the
phloem.

The movement of sucrose and amino acids through the phloem is

termed as translocation.
inner cells of stem

mouth parts of aphid

phloem

xylem

outer cells of stem

 Pathway of water

water cell wall cytoplasm vacuole

root hair cell

soil particle
air pocket

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• Water potential in the surrounding soil solution is higher than that of
the cell sap of the root hair cells. Water molecules move into the root
hair cells by osmosis.

• Water potential in root hair cells is now higher than the inner root cells,
hence water molecules move into the inner cells by osmosis.

• Water molecules move from one inner cell into the next inner cell by
osmosis until they reach the root xylem.

• Water molecules are drawn up the root xylem, through the stem xylem
and finally to the leaf xylem by transpiration pull.

epidermal cell

palisade mesophyll
cell

spongy mesophyll
cell

stomata
• Water molecules are drawn from the leaf xylem into the surrounding
spongy mesophyll cells by osmosis.

• Some of the water in turn moves into the palisade mesophyll cells by
osmosis and is used by the photosynthetic cells as a raw material for
photosynthesis.

• Water then moves out of the spongy mesophyll cells onto its outer cell
wall to form a film of water which evaporates into the air spaces.

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 • The water vapour molecules diffuse out of the leaf, down a diffusion
gradient, through the stomata to the outside atmosphere.
 Effects of Transpiration

Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from the stoma of the leaves of
a plant.

 Transpiration pull

Such loss results in the water being continually drawn from the leaf
xylem to the spongy mesophyll cells.

Hence, it ultimately generates the transpiration pull – a force which

draws water and mineral ions in an unbroken column continuously,
up the stem xylem from the root xylem to the leaf xylem.

The unbroken column of water and mineral ions in the xylem is

known as transpiration stream.

 ‘Cooling’ effect

Water needs ‘latent heat’ in order to evaporate.

Hence, the evaporation of water from the film of water on the outer
cell wall of the spongy mesophyll cells results in the loss of excess
heat from the plant.

This lowers the temperature of the plant leaves and reduces risk of
enzymes in the leaf cells being denatured by the high heat, e.g.
photosynthetic and respiratory enzymes.

 Wilting

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Occurs during excessive transpiration, i.e. rate of water absorption is
less than rate of transpiration and rate of photosynthesis.

Leaf cells lose turgidity and become flaccid.

⇒ As a result, the leaves would ‘fold’ and droop
⇒ reducing the surface area of the leave exposed to sunlight.

Prolonged period of wilting can result in slowing down of cellular

activities in the plant and hence ultimate death of the plant.

• Advantage of wilting

Reduces further loss of water vapour from the leaves.

⇒ The folding of leaves causes still air to be trapped in the
immediate region outside the stomata
⇒ the diffusion gradient between air space and air outside leaf is
reduced
⇒ rate of transpiration decreases

• Disadvantages of wilting

Rate of photosynthesis decreases

⇒ strength of transpiration pull is reduced
⇒ rate in which water is brought up to the leaves decreases
⇒ water is a raw material

⇒ guard cells becomes flaccid and loses curvature

⇒Width of stoma decreases, i.e. close
⇒ less carbon dioxide diffusing from atmospheric air into air
space
⇒ carbon dioxide concentration decreases
⇒ carbon dioxide is a raw material

⇒ leaves fold up, reducing surface area exposed to sunlight

⇒ reducing rate of sunlight being trapped by chlorophyll

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 Rate of transpiration

 Use of potometer

shoot syringe

water capillary tube with ruler

A potometer measures the rate of absorption of water,

*Assumption: rate of water absorption is proportional to the rate of

water loss by transpiration

As water is absorbed by the shoot, the bubble in the capillary tube

with the ruler is drawn towards the shoot.

Rate of water absorption = distance moved by bubble per unit time.

The syringe would bring the bubble back to the ‘starting’ point for the
next measurement.

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  Factors affecting rate of transpiration

Within a certain range, each factor would increase or decrease the

rate of transpiration. Beyond a certain value, that particular factor
would not be the limiting factor anymore.
rate of transpiration

rate of transpiration
or

factor factor

Factor Effect
 humidity, more water vapour in surrounding air
outside leaf than air spaces in leaf (diffusion
Humidity of
gradient becomes less steep).
air
∴  transpiration rate

Temperature  temperature, more water evaporates from the

of air film of water around cell walls of spongy mesophyll
cells.
More water vapour would be present in air space.
 transpiration rate

Strong wind  strength of wind, less water vapour in

surrounding air outside leaf than air spaces in leaf
as wind blows away the water vapour.
∴  transpiration rate.

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Light intensity  light intensity, guard cells become turgid and
curved more thus opening stoma.
∴  transpiration rate

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