Transportation In Plants

In plants Vascular System is responsible for transportation of materials.

Vascular System comprises of two complex permanent tissues:

1) Xylem: Transportation of water and minerals.

2) Phloem: Transportation of food or Translocation.

Transportation of Water and Minerals: Transportation of water is a unidirectional process ie; from roots to different
parts of the plant.
It is a physiological process ie; does not require energy.
This process is divided into 2 steps:

1) Water absorption from the soil: Terrestrial plants absorb water from the soil through root hairs.
They are unicellular, thin walled outgrowth of epidermis.
They are in close contact with the thin film of water surrounding the soil particles.
These root cells, which are in close contact with soil actively take up ions (against the gradient, ie; movement of ions from less
concentrated soil to more concentrated root cells).
This creates a difference in the cocentration of these ions between the root and the soil. Water, therefore moves into the the
roots from the soil (endo-osmosis) to eliminate this difference.

1.
Root Hair Cell

Water absorption by the root hairs from the soil

Mineral ions moved
Mineral ions into root hair cell by
Water active transport .

Water moves into root

hair cell by osmosis.
2) Ascent of Sap (movement of water up):

Forces involved:

(I) Root Pressure (Pushes water up): As a result of endo osmosis, there will be steady movement of water into root xylem,
creating Root pressure.
Root pressure is the transverse osmotic pressure within the cells of a root system that causes sap to rise through a plant stem to
the leaves.
This root pressure builts up the water column upto a few cm above the ground level. So, it is not enough to move water over the
heights.
Conditions of root pressure generation are :
a) Absorption of water by root hairs should be continuous and
b) No / low transpiration.
In case of herbaceous plants this root pressure is sufficient to move water up to the leaves. So, herbaceous plants loose water in
the form of liquid through small openings present on the leaf margins called Hydathodes, and the process of loosing water is
known as “Guttation”.

(II) Capillary Action (Draws water up within the xylem): It is the tendency of a liquid to move up against gravity when confined
within in a narrow tube (capillary). Here, in this case Xylem is similar to capillary.
This action is due to following properties:
a) Cohesive forces: Molecular attraction between “like” molecules. In water, cohesion occurs due to the hydrogen bonding
between water molecules.
b) Adhesive forces: Molecular attraction between “unlike” molecules. In the case of Xylem, adhesion occurs between water
molecules and the molecules of Xylem cell walls.
On its own, capillary can work well within a vertical stem for up to approximately 1 m, so it is not strong enough to move water up
a tall tree.
(III)Transpirational pull (pulls water up the xylem): When the plant has adequate supply of water, the water which is lost
through the stomata is replaced by water from the Xylem vessels in the leaf.
Evaporation of water molecules from the cells of a leaf creates a suction pressure which pulls water from the xylem cells of roots.
The loss of water in the form of vapour from the aerial parts of the plant is known as transpiration and the suction pressure
created by traspiration is called transpirational pull.

Transpirational pull

Transportration of water and minerals

Capillary action

Root Pressure
Transportation of Food (Translocation): When food (Glucose) gets manufactured in the cells of the leaves,it get
transported to each cell of the plant. The amino acids and excess food are stored in organs like roots, fruits and seeds.
This process is known as translocation.
It takes place through Phloem.
It is a biological process ie; requires energy in the form of ATP.
Translocation is radial or multidirectional process ie; sugar (sucrose) is transported from sugar source to sugar sink
area.
As the concentration of sugar increases in the phloem, water enters in it by osmosis.
Water enters into the phloem from any surrounding tissue such as xylem which has lower solute concentration than
phloem.
As water flows in the sieve tubes of the phloem, it exerts a high amount of pressure on their walls.This presuure moves
the food materials to the adjacent cells with low pressure.This allows the phloem to move the sugar solution to the sink
cells.
At night when there is no light for the leaves to produce sugar by photosynthesis, energy has to come from storage
organ (sugar source) like root, stem etc.
In the flowering season, sugar stored in the roots or stem (sugar source) is translocated to the buds (sugar sink)
which grow into flowers.
Translocation