Question

Which is the only way that the water and other solutes can enter the vascular system​

Answer 1

The movement of water through the root layers is ultimately symplastic in the endodermis. This is the only way water and other solutes can enter the vascular cylinder. Once inside the xylem, water is again free to move between cells as well as through them.

Answer 2

Water and other solutes enter the vascular system via the symplastic pathway

• Plants absorb water, minerals, and solutes from the soil with the help of root hairs by a process known as diffusion.
• After diffusion, water, and solutes move deeper throughout the layers of the roots via the apoplastic pathway in which these substances travel through the intercellular spaces and cell walls until the endodermis.
• In the endodermis, Casparian strips made of suberized material are present, which doesn't allow the passage of water and solutes via the apoplastic pathway.

• Thus, these substances have to traverse via the intracellular pathway, also called the symplastic pathway to finally reach the vascular system.

Hence, the only way that the water and other solutes can enter the vascular system​  is via the symplastic pathway