Essential Plant Nutrients

Essential Plant Nutrients

Plants need food for their growth and development like other living thing. Humans and animals depend on plants for their food from natural raw material. Seventeen elements have been found to be indispensable for plant growth, development & reproduction. 

Criteria of Essentiality

                An element should meet following three criteria to be termed as an essential nutrient:
·         Plant is unable to complete vegetative or reproductive stage of its life without that element.
·         The need of such a nutrient is specific and its deficiency symptoms can be corrected by supplying only the same nutrient.
·         The nutrient plays a direct role in plants active process and meets its nutritional needs.
Essential nutrients can be divided into two macro and micro nutrients depending upon their requirements.

Macro Nutrients

                Macro nutrients are required in relatively larger quantity by plants. Their concentration in plants is usually >500 mg kg-1
C, H, O, N, P, S, Mg, Ca, K
They are further categorized into primary and secondary nutrients
The primary nutrients are N, P and K. They are most often limiting from a crop production standpoint. All of the other essential macro nutrients are secondary nutrients because they are rarely limiting and seldom added to soils as fertilizers.

Micro Nutrients

                Micro nutrients required in relatively smaller quantity by plants. Their concentration in plants is usually <100 mg kg-1
Zn, Cu, B, Fe, Mn, Cl, Mo

Functions

                Nitrogen is a part of all living cells and is a necessary part of all proteins, enzymes and metabolic processes involved in the synthesis and transfer of energy and helps plants with rapid growth, increasing seed and fruit production an improving the quality of leaf and forage crops.
Nitrogen is a part of chlorophyll, the green pigment of the plants that is responsible for photosynthesis.
The most important function of P in plants is energy storage and transfer. Phosphorus is an integral part of adenosine triphosphate and adenosine diphosphate. P is involved in the formation of all oils, sugar, starches etc.
Adequate supply of P is important for development of reproductive parts of plant and improves blooming and root growth.
Potassium is required for the activation of more than 80 enzymes. It is also involved in stomatal regulation and maintenance of plant turgor.







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