Chapter -07

Plant Growth
and Mineral
nutrition
(5/7 marks)
Mrs Vinita . M . Prabhu
Growth
Growth is an irreversible increase in an organism or its
part with respect to its form, size, volume and weight.

Intrinsic growth
The growth which takes place due to the addition of
cellular materials from inside is called intrinsic growth.
Seed Dormancy
The inability of viable seeds to germinate even under
suitable environmental conditions is called seed
dormancy.

Causes of seed dormancy

Hard seed coat, seed coats impermeable to water and
gases, presence of immature embryo, light sensitive
seeds and presence germination inhibitors are the main
causes of seed dormancy.
Methods of breaking seed dormancy
The various methods of breaking the seed dormancy
are as follows:
1. Scarification: Breaking the seed dormancy by
softening of seed coats by using sand paper, knives or
chemicals like acid or alcohol is known as scarification.
2. Stratification: Stratification is subjecting the seeds to
low and high temperatures.
3. Removal of inhibitors: Removing the germination
inhibitors by washing the seeds thoroughly in water or
by hormonal treatment. Gibberellins or auxins are
widely used for breaking the dormancy of seeds.
Seed germination
Seed germination is a process in which the dormant
embryo of seed resumes metabolic activities and grows
to a produce seedling of germination.
There are three types of germination
(1) Epigeal germination: The germination of seeds in
which cotyledons are raised above the soil due to the
elongation of hypocotyl is known as epigeal
germination. It is seen in dicot plants like castor,
tamarind, etc.
(2) Hypogeal germination: The germination of seeds in
which cotyledons remain below the soil is called
hypogeal germination. Hypogeal germination is seen in
rice, wheat, jowar, (monocots) gram, groundnut, pea
and mango (dicots).
(3) Viviparous germination: Viviparous germination is a
special type of germination in which seed germinates
within the fruit while it is still attached to the parent
plant. Viviparous germination is seen in plants like
Rhizophora, Avicennia, Sonneratia, etc. which grow in
oxygen deficient, salty and marshy soil near the
seashore.
Growth: Growth is a "vital process which brings about
an irreversible increase in an organism or its part with
respect to its size, weight, form and volume."

Characteristics of growth:
(1) Growth is a permanent increase in size, weight,
shape, volume and dry weight of a plant.
(2) The change occurring due to growth is permanent
and irreversible.
(3) Growth is an intrinsic process caused due to
internal activities.
(4) Growth occurs by cell division and cell elongation
followed by cell maturation which leads to the
formation of different types of tissues.
(5) Growth in plants is mostly localized, i.e. restricted
to some regions of plants possessing meristematic
tissues or meristems
Phases of growth: There are three phases of growth,
viz. formative phase, elongation phase and maturation
phase.
(1) Formative phase (Phase of cell division): This is the
first phase of growth. In this phase ,the meristematic
cells undergo mitosis to produce new cells. Owing to
the formation of new cells, there occurs a slight
increase in the size of the organ.
(2) Elongation phase (Phase of cell enlargement): This
is the second phase of growth. In this phase, the new
cells that are formed, undergo enlargement as a result
of which the size and volume of the cells increase.
Enlargement of cells occur mostly in linear direction as
a result of which the elongation of the root and stem
takes place.
(3) Maturation phase (Phase of cell maturation and
differentiation): Maturation phase is the third and last
phase of growth. In this phase, the elongated cells
undergo maturation and differentiation to form various
types of plant tissues like parenchyma, sclerenchyma,
xylem and phloem.
GPG (Grand period of growth):
(1) GPG means grand period of growth.
(2) Growth never occurs at uniform rate. It always
follows a definite course.
(3) It starts slowly during the formative phase,
increases to maximum during elongation phase and
declines during maturation phase till it stops
completely.
(4) The time interval from the formative phase to
maturation phase is called grand period of growth.
Typical growth curve
(1) When growth rate is plotted against time on a
graph paper a sigmoid (S-shaped) curve is
obtained. This curve is called growth curve. It is
also known as sigmoid curve.
(2) In plants, growth curve is always sigmoid, ie S-
shaped. This is because growth starts slowly
during formative phase, becomes rapid during
elongation phase and finally slows down to a
steady state during the maturation phase.
(3) The standard growth curve shows three phases, viz.
lag phase, log phase and stationary phase.
(i) Lag phase or initial growth phase: This is the initial
phase of growth. During this phase of growth, the rate
of growth is slow. It corresponds to formative phase of
growth where new cells are formed due to cell division.
(ii) Log phase or exponential phase: This is the second
phase of growth. During this phase, the growth is rapid
and maximum. It corresponds to the phase of cell
elongation.
(iii) Stationary phase or steady phase: The stationary
phase is the third and last phase of growth. In this
phase, growth slows down and becomes steady. The
cells undergo differentiation during stationary phase.
Growth rate
The increased growth per unit time is called growth
rate.

Absolute growth rate

The measurement and comparison of total growth per
unit time is called absolute growth rate
 The concept of mathematical growth.
(1)The growth of an organism or its part occurs by the
production of new cells by cell division.
(2)The production of new cells takes place either by
arithmetic or by geometric way.
(3) The diagram given below illustrates arithmetic
growth and geometric growth
Growth Hormones
•The term hormone was coined first by Starling (1906)
in animal physiology.
•The internal factors that influence growth are called
growth hormones or growth regulators as they
inhibit, promote or modify the growth
•Growth promoters are auxins, gibberellins (GA) and
cytokinins (CK)
•Growth inhibitors in plants are ethylene and
abscissic acid (ABA).
•All photohormones are growth regulators
•According to Thimann and Pincus (1948) “Plants
hormones are organic substances produced naturally in
higher plants affecting growth or other physiological
functions at a site remote from its place of production
and active in very minute (optimum) amount”
•Hormones are transported through phloem
parenchyma (Phillips 1971).
a. Auxins ( Auxien= to grow)
• F.W.Went in 1931.used this term first
• Auxin was isolated from urine of a person
suffering from Pellagra (Kogl and H. Smit 1931)
• In plants, it is synthesized in growing tips or
meristematic regions of plants from where it is
transported to other plants parts
• The most common and important natural auxin is
Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA).
• Tryptophan is the primary precursor of IAA in
plants.
• It is the first hormone to be discovered in plants
and is primarily responsible for cell elongation
• It shows polar transport- Basipetal transport in
stem
• Synthetic auxins like IBA (Indole Butric acid),
NAA (Naphthalene acetic acid), 2,4-D pichloro
(Phenoxy acetic acid) etc are used.
Physiological effects and applications of
auxin
•The primary effect is cell enlargement
•In most of the higher plants, growing apical bud
inhibits the growth of lateral buds.
•This is called as apical dominance
•Auxin stimulates growth of stem and root.
•Auxin induces multiplication of cells , hence used in
tissue culture experiments to produce callus
•It stimulates formation of lateral and adventitious
roots
•These are marketed as synthetic herbicides eg 2,4-D
(2,4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid)
•It kills dicot weeds without affecting monocot crop
plants.
•The seedless fruits like orange, lemon, grapes, banana
etc are produced by application of auxin (ie induced
parthenocarpy).
•Auxins promote cell division in cambium and also cause
early differentiation of xylem and phloem
•It promotes root elongation in low concentration and
shooting at higher concentration .
•It also hastens early rooting in propagation by ‘cutting’
•Foilar spray of NAA and 2,4-D induces flowering in litchi
and pineapple .
•It prevents premature fruit drop in apples, pear and
oranges and also prevents formation of abscission layer
•Auxins play a role in elonagtion of cell
•It is known to increase rate of respiration
•Auxins break dormancy in seed and promote quick
germination.
Gibberellins
•It is growth promoting hormone and is abundant in
root tip and developing seeds
•It shows non- polar transport through vascular tissue
•Gibberellins were first isolated from fungus
gibberellafujikuroi by japanese scientist Kurosawa
(1926)
•He observed that when rice plants was infected by
this fungus, it showed extensive stem elongation
called ‘bakane disease’
•The crytalline from of gibberellins were isolated by
Yabuta and Sumiki (1938). They named it as gibberellin
•It is synthesized in young leaves, seeds, roots and stem
tips. These are synthesized from mevalonic acid
•More than 150 chemical types are known.
•GA3 is most common and biologically active form
•Chemically it contains gibberane ring- a cyclic
diterpene with four isoprene units.
Physiological effects and application of
Gibberellins
•Dormancy of bud can be broken by gibberellin
treatment
•It can promote seed germination in cereals like barley
and wheat by synthesizing hydrolysing enzyme
amylase to produce sugar
•The most striking effect of it is the elongation of stem
where internodes increase in length.
•It also promotes bolting ie elongation of internodes just
prior to flowering in plants those with rosette habit eg
beet, cabbage.
•It causes parthenocarpy in tomato, apple and pear and
flowering in long day plants
•It is used to increase the fruit size and bunch length of
grapes.
•When gibberellins are applied on genetically dwarf
plants like maize, the stem rapidly elongates and
acquires the height of normal tall varieties of maize
•Application of gibberellins overcomes the requirement
of vernalization.
•Usually, it inhibits growth of root, delays senescence
and prevents abscission
•It also breaks dormancy of seed and hastens
germination
•Application of gibberellins causes production of male
flowers on female plant.