What are the components of food other than carbohydrates synthesized by plant?
Answers
Nitrogen, proteins, vitamins and minerals
Answer:
Synthesis of plant food other than carbohydrates
We have seen so far that photosynthesis can only provide us with carbohydrates which contain carbon,hydrogen and oxygen. These components of carbohydrates are used to produce other components of food.
But nitrogenous substances containing nitrogen, proteins, vitamins and minerals are also a substantial component of food.
The second source of food for plants is from soil which contains certain minerals like phosphorous, potassium, nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, Sulphur and many other minerals present in dissolved form. These minerals are absorbed by the plants from soil using the root hairs of plants.
The nutrients required by plants in large quantities are called macronutrients whereas the nutrients required by plants in small quantities are called micronutrients.
Due to this reason the quality of plants depend upon the quality of soil. To get good yield of plants it is necessary to take care of the quality of the soil.
Out of the minerals present in soil Nitrogen is a macronutrient for plants. A lot of nitrogen is present in gaseous form (78%) that cannot be used directly by the plants.
This atmospheric nitrogen is converted into nitrogenous compounds and fix them into the soil that is done by the nitrogen fixing bacteria. This nitrogen is taken up by the plants.
Therefore, farmers add fertilizers to the soil. These fertilizers enrich the soil with additional nutrients like sodium, potassium, phosphorous, nitrogen that is in turn absorbed by the plants and is used to synthesize other components of food such as proteins and fats.