Nutrition in Plants

All living beings, be it plants or animals it need food to survive. Human beings and animals depend on plants for food. Plants however unable to make their own food themselves. The process by which plants make their food by means of substances such as carbon dioxide, sunlight and water is called photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is an important process because not only does it provides food to animals but human beings as well. Additionally, this process is responsible for putting oxygen gas into the air which is essential for breathing and respiration in animals including human beings. Photosynthesis is defined as the process by which green plants make their own food from water and carbon dioxide in the presence of Sunlight.

Photosynthesis can be explained in the following steps:

The photosynthesis process takes place in the green leaves of a plant, which convert sunlight energy into chemical energy by making carbohydrates
The food is prepared by the green leaves in the form of a simple sugar called glucose.
The extra glucose is changed into another food called starch, which is stored in the leaves of the plant.

The essential components of food are called nutrients, and the process by which organisms consume their food and utilise it for their survival is called nutrition.

Steps involving Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis takes place in the leaves of the plants. Leaves have green pigment in them called chlorophyll which helps them to capture the energy of the sunlight. It is then used to prepare food from carbon dioxide and water. One can notice that the solar energy is captured by the leaves and is stored in the plant in the form of food. Thus we can say that Sun is ultimate source of energy for all living organisms. Photosynthesis takes place in the following three steps:

Sunlight energy is absorbed by chlorophyll.
Light energy is converted into chemical energy, and water molecules are split into hydrogen and oxygen by light energy.
Carbon dioxide is reduced by hydrogen to form carbohydrates like glucose by utilizing chemical energy.

How Do Plants Obtain the Various Components Required To Make Their Foods?

How plants obtain carbon dioxide?

Plants have a large number of tiny pores on the surface of the leaves called stomata
The carbon dioxide gas enters the leaves of the plant through the stomata
Each pore of the stomata pore is surrounded by a pair of guard cells. The opening and closing of stomatal pores are controlled by the guard cells.

How plants obtain water for photosynthesis:

The root of the plants absorb the amount of water required for the process of photosynthesis from the soil through the process of osmosis.
The absorbed water is transported upward in the plant through the xylem vessels to the leaves. Here, it reaches the photosynthetic cells.
The plants also need other raw materials such as nitrogen, phosphorus, iron and magnesium, etc. Plants take these materials from the soil. Nitrogen is an essential element which the plants use to make proteins and other compounds.

Mode of Nutrition

Based on how organisms make or take in their food, mode of nutrition in organisms can be divided into two major types:

Autotrophic = Organisms which can prepare food on their own. For example plants. Green plants contain chlorophyll. The chlorophyll traps the sunlight which is essential for making food for plants. Hence plants resort to autotrophic nutrition. Organisms such as green plants, that can make food by themselves are called autotrophs
Heterotrophic = Organisms which depend on other organisms for their food. These organisms are called consumers because they depend on other organisms for their food. All animals and non-green plants such as fungi resort to the heterotrophic mode of nutrition and are hence called heterotrophs.

Some plants do not have chlorophyll and cannot synthesize their own food. They are known as Heterotrophic plants. This type of nutrition can be categorized into

Parasitic mode of nutrition – Parasites are those that feed on another living organism, also called the host.
Saprophytic mode of nutrition – Saprophytes do nor feed on a living organism, but on dead and decaying matter
Insectivorous mode
Symbiotic mode of nutrition

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