Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NUTRITION - Plant
NUTRITION - Plant
What is nutrition?
It is the uptake of substances by organisms from which energy will obtained to be used in
maintaining life processes (characteristics of living things)
Modes of Nutrition
These are principles of obtaining nutrients.
Two modes of nutrition are;
a) Autotrophic- whereby organisms (plants) build up all their food i.e. making organic molecules
from simple inorganic substances.
Auto- means self and trophos means feeding.
b) Heterotrophic- whereby organisms (animals) use ready made organic substances as their
source of food. These organic substances are originally from autotrophs
Hetero means different or other.
Carbon dioxide - diffuses through the stomata found on leaves and some stems.
Water – it is absorbed from the soil by the root hair cells through the process of osmosis. Water
moves between the cell walls through to the xylem tissues which is responsible of transporting
water and dissolved mineral salts.
Although photosynthesis occurs mainly in the leaves, any part of the plant that contains
chlorophyll will also photosynthesize.
Most leaves are thin thus carbon dioxide can easily diffuse across the short distances to
reach the inner cells
Intercellular air spaces provide an easy passage for diffusion of gases.
There are many stomata on the lower epidermis to allow for exchange CO2 & O2 and
minimize loss of water by transpiration
There are more chloroplasts on the upper cells (palisade) than on the lower cells
(spongy)
The branching network of veins (xylem & phloem) provides transport system for good
supply of water to the cells and carrying away of nutrients from the cells.
Leaf Structure
1. Cuticle- this is a waxy layer on the upper epidermis which prevents water loss by transpiration
2. Epidermis- found on the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf. It helps to keep the leaf in
shape and protects the inner parts of the leaf form micro-organisms. Also reduces transpiration.
5. Guard cells – in most plants there are mainly on the lower epidermis. They surround small
openings called stomata through which gases diffuse in and out.
The fate of glucose following the process of photosynthesis;
The figure below explains how glucose is used after photosynthesis.
Sunlight absorbed by
Chlorophyll to photolyse water
Carbon dioxide + Water
CO2 H2O
C6 H12 O6
(Glucose)
Proteins used to
Sucrose used
make enzymes,
cytoplasm etc for respiration
Converted to
Background information
The leaf manufactures carbohydrates through the process called photosynthesis. First, plants
manufacture sugars which are later converted to starch for storage in the cells to find out if
photosynthesis has taken place we test the leaf starch.
Apparatus; 2 Beakers, test tube, burner, leaf, white tile, ethanol, water, testing reagent- iodine
solution
Procedure;
Step 1
Boil the leaf for 3 minutes order to break open the cells. This also helps to kill the cell cytoplasm
and make the leaf permeable to iodine solution.
Step 2
Boil the leaf in ethanol (alcohol) for 2 minutes to remove the chlorophyll.
Caution; ethanol is flammable; therefore do not heat it directly.
Step 3
Put the leaf in warm water to soften it. Ethanol makes the leaf hard and brittle.
Step 4
Place the leaf on a white tile and add 3 drops of iodine solution.
Results
If starch is present the decolourised leaf will turn blue-black and if there is no starch it will just
stain reddish brown.
Therefore the results obtained will be due to absence of the factor being investigated.
Procedure;
- A potted plant is destarched by keeping it in the dark for a day. Then the plant is exposed
to sunlight for about an hour with one leaf covered with an aluminium foil to keep light
away (as seen in the figure below).
- Take the leaf that was covered and test it for starch following the procedure laid out
above.
Results;
The part of the leaf that was covered would not change colour whilst the part exposed to sunlight
would turn blue-black.
Interpretation / Conclusion
Since the starch test proved positive only for the part of the leaf that was received sunlight, we
can conclude that sunlight is needed for photosynthesis.
Investigating if Carbon dioxide is needed for photosynthesis
Apparatus; Two potted plants, soda lime, sodium hydrogen carbonate, petri dish, plastic bags
apparatus for starch test
Procedure;
- Two destarched potted plants are covered with plastic bags.
- In one plant place a petri dish with soda lime and the other plant should have sodium
hydrogen carbonate
Note; Soda lime is a chemical that absorbs carbon dioxide whilst sodium hydrogen carbonate
serves to release the gas carbon dioxide.
- Expose both plants to sunlight for 3 hours and then take a leaf form each plant and test it
for starch
Sodium
Hydrogen
carbonate
Results;
The leaf that had soda lime did not change colour whilst the leaf that sodium hydrogen carbonate
had turned to blue-black.
Interpretation;
Since the leaf from a plant with soda lime which served to absorb carbon dioxide did not stain
blue-black, but only that from a plant with sodium hydrogen carbonate which supplied carbon
dioxide we can conclude that carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis.
Expected results
The area of the leaf that had chlorophyll would stain blue-black whilst the other area remains
brown.
Interpretation;
Since the leaf stained blue-black only on areas with chlorophyll we can conclude that chlorophyll
is necessary for photosynthesis.
Mineral requirement
Plants also need some mineral ions in order to manufacture other important substances needed.
Mineral ions are absorbed through active transport.
Example;
This figure shows that light intensity only affects the
process of photosynthesis up to a certain level, beyond
which the rate of photosynthesis does not change even
though light intensity is increased. This implies that it’s
no longer light that is limiting the process but rather
that; may be;
Light intensity chlorophyll has been bleached by light
Chlorophyll is fully saturated with light.
The process is now affected by other limiting
factors
Rate of photosynthesis
Rate of photosynthesis
CO2 Concentration
Rate of photosynthesis
Temperature
Courtesy of Lebsy Mb
71726846