WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PLANT IF PROPER MINERALS ARE NOT PROVIDED TO
THEM ? EXPLAIN ALL DEFICIENCY SYMPTOMS
Answers
Answer:
Plants become spindly, stunted and secondary shoots develop poorly if the initial symptoms are not corrected. Whole leaves turn yellow, starting from the lower to upper leaves.
Explanation:
the most common changes are inhibition of primary root growth (often associated with P deficiency), increase in lateral root growth and density (often associated with N, P, Fe, and S deficiency) and increase in root hair growth and density (often associated with P and Fe deficiency).
Potassium. Potassium (K) is considered a macronutrient for plants and is the most abundant cation within plant cells. Potassium has a number of important functions within plants, including balancing the charges of cellular anions, enzyme activation, control of stomatal opening/closing and serving as an osmoticum for cellular growth.
Iron. Iron is essential for plant growth and development and is required as a cofactor for proteins that are involved in a number of important metabolic processes including photosynthesis and respiration. Despite the fact that iron is the fourth most abundant element in the earth's crust, it is often limiting for plants due to the fact that it tends to form insoluble complexes in aerobic soils of neutral to basic pH (Guerinot & Yi, 1994). It is thought that iron limitation is a problem for plants on as much as 30% of soils worldwide. Iron-deficient plants often display interveinal chlorosis, in which the veins of the leaf remain green while the areas between the veins are yellow (Figure 2). Due to the limited solubility of iron in many soils, plants often must first mobilize iron in the rhizosphere (a region of the soil that surrounds, and is influenced by, the roots) before transporting it into the plant. Two distinct mechanisms have evolved that are utilized by plants to acquire iron from the soil, termed the Strategy I and Strategy II responses (Connolly & Walker, 2008).
Nitrogen Fixation. Despite the fact that nitrogen is the most abundant gaseous element in the atmosphere, plants are unable to utilize the element in this form (N2) and may experience nitrogen deficiency in some soils that have low nitrogen content. Since nitrogen is a primary component of both proteins and nucleic acids, nitrogen deficiency imposes significant limitations to plant productivity. In an agricultural setting, nitrogen deficiency can be combated by the addition of nitrogen-rich fertilizers to increase the availability of nutrients and thereby increase crop yield. However, this can be a dangerous practice since excess nutrients generally end up in ground water, leading to eutrophication and subsequent oxygen deprivation of connected aquatic ecosystems.
