Water Balance in Plants

An organism usually exists in a state of

gradients

• s gradient keeps sugar flowing down the phloem

to supply the needs of the various cells in the root.
• p gradient : without these pressure differences,
bulk flow would cease, the shoot would wilt and
the root would starve.
•  gradient from the soil water to the xylem
provides the potential differences needed to bring
water and minerals in from the soil to be lifted up
the xylem.
 SOIL WATER
The type of water in soil affects the ability of
plant to obtain water :
1 – bound water, locked in particle –
unavailable to plants
2 – unbound water, avalailable to plants:

• gravitational water(1) : the water that drains from the soil by gravity.
Move to lower soil levels.
• When all gravitational water has drained, the soil is saturated and to be at
field capacity.
• Most of water is held by surface tension in small pores in the soil :
capillary water(2), which is easily absorbed by plant
• When the tension is equal with the ability to extrach it, the remaining
water in soil reach permanent wilting point. This is the lower limit of soil
moisture that can support plant growth
• Hygroscopic water is all remaining unbound water which is held tightly by
small soil particles. Plants cannot extract hygroscopic water from the soil.
The Path of Water into Root
How water and mineral enter the root
 The path water and mineral into
the root
• Root (hairs) epidermal cells take up water and nutrients
• Active uptake of mineral into root cells  s cells 
• Water osmosis enter between cells (apoplast) or through cells and
cells membrane (symplast)
• Endodermis : one layer cells with casparian strip in cell wall
(apoplast changes to symplast) to regulate the quantity and type of
minerals and ions reach the xylem
• Further transport through symplast has to pass through selective
membrane : control of which minerals/ions reach root xylem
• Active uptake of minerals is facilitated by transpiration. Low
transpiration will be supported by root pressure
Transmembrane Casparian strip: a waxy layer in
pathway the endodermis cells to
regulate the quantity and
type of minerals and ions
reach the xylem
Symplastic route
 In order for water and minerals
to reach the stele (xylem) the
highly regulated (cytoplasmic)
must be taken.
 The symplastic route involves
special openings between
adjacent cell walls called
plasmodesmata.
Casparian strip
 a waxy layer in the endodermis
cells
 to regulate the quantity and
type of minerals and ions reach
the xylem
 Pericycle,
 Stele :xylem, phloem
Apoplastic route
 in the nonliving parts of the
root — that is, in the spaces
between the cells and in the
cells walls themselves.
 This water has not crossed a
plasma membrane.
 Therefore, to enter the stele,
apoplastic water must enter the
symplasm of the endodermal
cells. From here it can pass by
plasmodesmata into the cells of
the stele.
 Water and mineral normally can
travel through the porous cell
walls of the root cortex.
 The apoplastic route is blocked
by the casparian strip.
The water potentials of apoplast and symplast for a
given tissue are the same but the two components of
water potential are different

 In the symplast : • In the apoplast :

- hydrostatic pressure is
positive (turgor pressure),
and
- the osmotic pressure is the
larger of the two
components because of
the dissolved solutes in
the cytoplasm.
- Hydrostatic pressure is
negative. The apoplast is
under tension.
- osmotic pressure is small
because there are fewer
dissolved solutes in the
apoplastic water.
Cells involve in pathway of water
 Xylem vessels

• no cell contents (dead)

• form continuous tubes
• lignin fibres strengthen the cell walls
• so do not collapse when pressure
inside falls
 Water Movement in Xylem :
1. Transpiration : the pulling of water up through the xylem
of a plant utilizing the energy of evaporation and the
tensile strength of water.
2. Cohesion is the attractive force between molecules of
the same substance. Water's cohesive force within xylem
give it a tensile strength.
• A combination of adhesion, cohesion, and surface
tension allow water to climb the walls of small diameter
tubes like xylem. This is called capillary action.
3. Adhesion is the attractive force between water
molecules and other substances. Because both water
and cellulose are polar molecules there is a strong
attraction for water within the hollow capillaries of the
xylem.
4. Tension. This pulling force is created by the surface
Capillarity Water rises up narrow tubes due to the adhesive
forces between the water molecules and the wall
of the tube

Xylem vessels are very

narrow

Water rises higher in narrower tubes

Transpiration pathway through a plant

 the xylem  the petiole

 the veins of the leaf 
the finest veins  the
cells of the spongy and
palisade layers.
 Here some of the water
may be used in
metabolism, but most is
lost in transpiration.
 The purposes of transpiration :
• supplies water for photosynthesis
• transports minerals from the soil to all parts of
the plant
• cools leaf surfaces some 10 to 15 degrees by
evaporative cooling
• maintains the plant's shape and structure by
keeping cells turgid
Transpiration depends on two major factors:
1. Difference in water vapor concentration
2. Diffusional resistance (r)
a) Leaf stomatal resistance (rs) Cl  Ca
Transpiration flow =
b) Boundary layer resistance (rb) Rs  Ra
Transpiration from the Leaf
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