Plant Growth and Development

Plant Growth & Development: Concepts

Many plants follow a life cycle that begins with growth from a seed and proceeds through the production of seeds. Plants have distinct stages in their life cycle. To live and grow plants need light, water, and nutrients from the soil. Flowering plants must be pollinated in order to produce seeds. Many plants are pollinated by bees. A flowers pollen sticks to a bee, but some rubs off when the bee feeds at other flowers. One seed produces one plant; one plant can produce many seeds.

VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Shoot and Root Systems
Crop plants must yield for profit

Root functions
Anchor Absorb Conduct Store As the shoot system enlarges, the root system must also increase to meet demands of leaves/stems

MEASURING GROWTH
Classifying shoot growth
Determinate flower buds initiate terminally; shoot elongation stops; e.g. bush snap beans Indeterminate flower buds born laterally; shoot terminals remain vegetative; e.g. pole beans

SHOOT GROWTH PATTERNS

Annuals
Herbaceous (nonwoody) plants Complete life cycle in one growing season

SHOOT GROWTH PATTERNS

Biennials
Herbaceous plants Require two growing seasons to complete their life cycle (not necessarily two full years) Stem growth limited during first growing season; e.g. celery, beets, cabbage, Brussels sprouts

SHOOT GROWTH PATTERNS

Perennials
Either herbaceous or woody Herbaceous roots live indefinitely (shoots can)
Shoot growth resumes in spring from adventitious buds in crown Many grown as annuals

Woody roots and shoots live indefinitely

Growth varies with annual environment and zone Pronounced diurnal variation in shoot growth; night greater

ROOT GROWTH PATTERNS

Variation in pattern with species and season Growth peaks in spring, late summer/early fall Spring growth from previous years foods Fall growth from summers accumulated foods Some species roots grow during winter Some species have some roots resting while, in the same plant, others are growing

Patterns of Early Growth and Development

Seed germination

Dependent on
Temperature Moisture

Oxygen
Daylight hours

Imbibition
Coat ruptures Seed swells from H2O update

How Do Seeds Germinate?

Germination is the resumption of growth after a time of arrested embryonic development Environmental factors influence germination
Rains provide the water amounts necessary to swell and rupture the seed coat (taking in water is imbibition) Oxygen moves in and allows the embryo to switch to aerobic metabolism

Growth vs Development
Growth
Quantitative Number, size, and volume increase

Development
Qualitative Emergence of specialized body parts

Plant Hormones
Plant hormones have central roles in the selective gene expression underlying cell differentiation and patterns of development.

Categories of Plant Hormones

Gibberillins
Promote stem lengthening Help end dormancy of seeds and buds Contribute to flowering Notable amounts in apical meristems of buds, roots, and leaves and in embryos

Categories of Plant Hormones

Auxins: affect lengthening of stems and coleoptiles (the protective cylinder that covers and protects the tender leaves during germination)
May participate in growth responses to light and gravity. Indoleacetic acid (IAA) is applied to fruit trees to promote uniform flowering, set the fruit, and encourage synchronous development of fruit. Synthetic auxins (such as 2,4-D) are used as herbicides

Categories of Plant Hormones

Cytokinins
Promote cell division and leaf expansion, retard leaf aging
Synthesized in roots and travel elsewhere

Abscisic Acid
Promotes stomatal closure, bud and seed dormancy

Ethylene
Promotes ripening of fruit, abscission of leaves, flowers, and fruits

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Light Temperature Water Gases

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH Light

Suns radiation
not all reaches earth; atmosphere absorbs much visible (and some invisible) rays pass, warming surface reradiation warms atmosphere

Intensity
high in deserts; no clouds, dry air low in cloudy, humid regions earth tilted on axis; rays strike more directly in summer day length varies during year due to tilt

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Light (cont)
importance of phytochrome in plant responses
plants detect ratio of red:far-red light red light full sun
yields sturdy, branched, compact, dark green plants

far-red light crowded, shaded fields/greenhouses

plants tall, spindly, weak, few branches; leaves light green

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Light (cont)
Photoperiodism response to varying length of light and dark
shorter days (longer nights)
onset of dormancy fall leaf color flower initiation in strawberry, poinsettia, chrysanthemum tubers/tuberous roots begin to form

longer days (shorter nights)

bulbs of onion begin to form flower initiation in spinach, sugar beets, winter barley

Flowering A case of photoperiodism

Photoperiodism is a biological response to a change in relative length of daylight and darkness in a 24-hour cycle; this resetting of the biological clocks is necessary to make seasonal adjustments

Continue

The flowering process is keyed to changes in daylength throughout the year.

Short-day plants: flower in late summer or early autumn when daylength becomes shorter
Example: Poinsettias

Long-day plants: flower in the spring as daylength becomes longer

Example: Spinach

Day-Neutral Plants: flower when they are mature enough to do so

Example: Roses

 Photoperiodism (see table 9-5) Short-day plants (long-night; need darkness) Long-day plants (need sufficient light) Day-neutral plants (flowering unaffected by period) Change from vegetative to reproductive Manipulations enable year-round production Market may dictate; consumers expectations associated with seasons, e.g. poinsettias at Christmas

Biological Clocks
Phytochrome is part of the switching mechanism that promotes or inhibits growth of a variety of plant parts

Biological Clocks
Circadian rhythm Biological activity that recurs in cycles, each of which lasts for about 24 hours Rhythmic leaf movements Phytochrome is part of the control over leaf movements

Flowering - A Case of Photoperiodism

Short-day plants Long-day plants Day-neutral plants

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Light (cont)
Phototropism movement toward light
hormone auxin accumulates on shaded side cell growth from auxin effect bends plant blue light most active in process pigment uncertain

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Temperature correlates with seasonal variation of light intensity temperate-region growth between 39F and 122F high light intensity creates heat; sunburned low temp injury associated with frosts; heat loss by radiation contributes opaque cover reduces radiation heat loss burning smudge pots radiate heat to citrus trees wind machines circulate warm air from temperature inversions

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH

Water most growing plants contain about 90% water amount needed for growth varies with plant and light intensity transpiration drives water uptake from soil water pulled through xylem exits via stomates evapotranspiration - total loss of water from soil loss from soil evaporation and plant transpiration

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT GROWTH Gases

Nitrogen is most abundant Oxygen and carbon dioxide are most important
plants use CO2 for photosynthesis; give off O2 plants use O2 for respiration; give off CO2 stomatal opening and closing related to CO2 levels? oxygen for respiration limited in waterlogged soils increased CO2 levels in atmosphere associated with global warming additional pollutants harm plants

REPRODUCTIVE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Phases
Flower induction and initiation Flower differentiation and development Pollination Fertilization Fruit set and seed formation Growth and maturation of fruit and seed Fruit senescence

REPRODUCTIVE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Flower induction and initiation
What causes a plant to flower?
Daylength (photoperiod) Low temperatures (vernalization)

Neither

What are Tropisms?

A plant tropisms is a growth response
Evidenced by a turning of a root or shoot toward or away from an environmental stimulus Hormones mediate the shifts in rates at which different cells grow and elongate to cause the overall response

Types of Tropisms
Gravitropisms: is the growth response to gravity shoots grow up, roots grow down.
Auxins, together with a growthinhibiting hormone, may play role in promoting, or inhibiting, growth in strategic regions Statoliths, which are unbound starch grains in the plastids, respond to gravity and may trigger the redistribution of auxin

Continue (Tropisms)
Phototropisms: is a growth response to light
Bending toward the light is caused by elongation of cells (auxin stimulation on the side of the palnt not exposed to light). Flavoprotein, a pigment molecule probably plays a role because of its capacity to absorb blue wavelengths of light

Continue (Tropisms)
Thigmotropism is shift in growth triggered by physical contact with surrounding objects.
Prevalent in climbing vines and in the tendrils that support some plants Auxin and ethylene may have roles in the response

Response to Mechanical Stress

Response to the mechanical stress of strong winds explain why plants grown at higher mountain elevations are more stubby than their counterparts at lower elevations Human interventions such as shaking can inhibit plant growth.

How Do Plants Known When to Flower?

Phytochrome: Alarm button for plants
Biological Clocks are internal time-measuring mechanisms that adjust daily and seasonal patterns of growth, development, and reproduction
Phytochrome a blue-green pigment, is alarm button for some biological clocks in plants Phytochrome- can absorb both read and far-red wavelengths with different results.
When is the pigment activated? When is the pigment inactive?

Continue
Some plants activities occur regularly in cycles of 24 hours (circadian rhythms) even when environmental conditions remain constant

PHASE CHANGE: JUVENILITY, MATURATION, SENESCENCE

Phasic development embryonic growth juvenility transition stage maturity senescence death During maturation, seedlings of many woody perennials differ strikingly in appearance at various stages of development

 Juvenility
terminated by flowering and fruiting may be extensive in certain forest species

Maturity
loss or reduction in ability of cuttings to form adventitious roots

Physiologically related
lower part of plant may be oldest chronologically, yet be youngest physiologically (e.g. some woody plants) top part of plant may be youngest in days, yet develop into the part that matures and bears flowers and fruit

AGING AND SENESCENCE

Life spans among plants differ greatly
range from few months to thousands of years
e.g. bristlecone pine (over 4000 years old) e.g. California redwoods (over 3000 years old)

clones should be able to exist indefinately

Senescence
a physiological aging process in which tissues in an organism deteriorate and finally die considered to be terminal, irreversible can be postponed by removing flowers before seeds start to form

Life Cycles End and Turn Again

Senescence
Death of plant or some parts Abscission

Dropping of
leaves, fruits and flowers Decrease in daylight

Drought, wounds, nutrient deficiencies

Senescence

The dropping of leaves, flowers, fruits is called abscission Senescence: is the sum total of the processes leading to the death of plant parts or the whole plant
Decrease of daylight hours trigger the reduction of auxin Cells in abscission zones produce ethylene which causes cells to deposit suberin in their walls

Life Cycles End and Turn Again

Dormancy
Growth stops Induced by daylight and cold

Vernalization
Changes in temperature Stimulation of buds Flower when spring comes

Dormancy beaks
Hormones Temperature

Entering and Breaking Dormancy

Dormancy occurs in autumn when daylight shortens and growth stops in many trees and nonwoody perennials it will not resume until spring Strong cues for dormancy include in short days, cold nights, and dry, nitrogendeficient soil. Dormancy has great adaptive value in preventing plant growth on occasional warm autumn days only to be killed by later frost.

Vernalization
Vernalization is the stimulation of flowering only after plants have been exposed to lower temperatures (winter). Deliberately exposing seeds to lower temperature to stimulate flowering the next season is common agricultural practice.

Breaking Dormancy
Dormancy is broken by milder temperatures, rains, and nutrients. It probably involves gibberellins and abscisiic acid, and require exposure to specific periods of low temperatures.