DEPARTMENT OF PLANT SCIENCE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCE

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA
2023/2024 SESSION

COURSE CODE: PSB311

COURSE TITTLE: PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

DEVELOPED
BY
J.D., BUAH

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CONTENT
1. Physiology of Crop yield
2. Physiology of special plants:
 Tree
 Water movement in tree
3. Physiological activities within leaves
4. Tree Movement
5. Tree Growth Regulators
6. Parasitic Plants
7. Plants under stress

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 PHYSIOLOGY OF CROPS YIELD
What is Crop physiology?

Crop physiology is the study of the plant processes responsible for the growth, development,
and production of economic yield by crop plants.

Crop physiologists focus on whole plants and plant communities - not individual plant parts,
organs, or cells because most of the processes that control yield operate at the whole plant -
plant community level. Consequently most crop physiology research is conducted in growth
chambers, greenhouses, or in the field. Crop physiologists investigate processes responsible
for the primary productivity of crop communities (e.g., photosynthesis, respiration, light
interception, nutrient utilization), how the products of these processes are converted to
economic yield (e.g., sink size, seed growth, partitioning, senescence), and developmental
processes that define the length of critical growth stages by controlling flowering and
maturation. Crop physiology is an integrative science, bringing information from a variety of
disciplines (soil science, ecology, plant physiology, botany, statistics, micro meteorology,
modeling) to bear on problems of yield improvement and crop management.

SIGNIFICANCE OF CROP PHYSIOLOGY

1. Crop physiology has an important role to play in generating the large increases in yield
that will be needed in the next 20 years to feed a burgeoning world population.
2. Increasing total production in a sustainable manner without increasing the land area
under cultivation represents a huge challenge that can only be met by integrative
investigations at the whole plant-plant community level. Crop physiologists will make
significant contributions to meeting this challenge.
3. The marked decrease over the past century in the land available for crop production has
brought about mounting pressure to increase crop yields, especially in developing
nations.
4. Physiology of Crop Production provides cutting-edge research and data for complete
coverage of the physiology of crop production, all in one source, right at your fingertips.
This valuable reference gives the extensive in-depth information soil and crop
professionals need to maximize crop productivity anywhere the world.
5. Crop physiology is a vital science needed to understand crop growth and development
to facilitate increases of plant yield. Physiology of Crop Production presents a wide
range of information and references from varying regions of the

PHYSIOLOGY OF CROP PRODUCTION STRATEGY

 Ideal plant architecture
 Maximizing root systems
 Ideal yield components
 Maximizing photosynthesis
 Maximizing source-sink relationship
 Sequestration of carbon dioxide

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  Reducing the effects of drought
 Improving N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S nutrition
 Improving micronutrient uptake

Physiology of Crop Production is an essential desktop resource for plant physiologists, soil and
crop scientists, breeders, agronomists, agronomy administrators in agro-industry, educators,
and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students.

TREE PHYSIOLOGY
DEFINITION
Tree Physiology is the study of how trees grow and develop in terms of genetics,
biochemistry, cells, tissues, and organ functions.
Tree physiology also relates to a tree’s interaction with environmental factors. While many
physiological processes are similar in trees as in other plants, trees possess unique physiology
that help determine their outward appearance.
1. TREE ROOT PHYSIOLOGY
Root physiology is the ability of the roots to sense the environment and adjust accordingly.
Roots develop internally rather than from buds that occur on stems and the parts of the tree
above the ground.
The development of a root system is dependent upon:
i. The tree genetics (ii.) The soils (iii.) The environment.

Root Parts
The root has several parts summarized below. They are listed from the youngest part of a root
to the oldest.
1. Root Cap:
 This part of the root is at its very tip.
 The cap protects the tip of the root as it is forced through the soil by the
elongating root tissue behind it.
 The tip has sensors that can detect rocks and other obstacles in its path of growth
2. Apical Meristem:
 This part of the root provides the cells for the root cap in front and for the region
of elongation behind this area.
 The sensors will cause the apical meristem to change directions of growth to
avoid any obstacles in its path.
3. Region of Elongation :
 Cells in their fixed positions elongate to reach mature dimensions in the region
of elongation.
 A special cell called the vacuole plays a major role in this process.
 It uses water pressure to push against the walls of cells to stretch the cellulose
fibers in the new cells to make them elongate and push the cap through the soil.

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 4. Region of Root Hairs:
 It is in this area where cells develop a more mature form and change into the
epidermis and the cortex.
5. Rhizosphere:
 The thin layer of soil that sticks to the roots is called the rhizosphere.
 It is the zone, about one millimeter in width, surrounding the epidermis of
living root hairs that contains millions more soil microorganisms than
anywhere else in the soil.

2. TREE TRUNK PHYSIOLOGY

Definition: The trunk is a highly ordered arrangement of living, dying, and dead cells.
Significance of the tree trunk

i. The trunk supports the crown and holds the leaves up to the light to allow photosynthesis to
occur.
ii. The roots are bathed in a nutrient rich liquid which transports these nutrients plus moisture
to the top of the tree where it is all consumed during photosynthesis through the trunk.
iii. The tree trunk has to expand in diameter as the tree grows in its search for moisture and
sunlight.
iv. A tree trunk (and the cells) supports an ever-flowing wet system that must be maintained at
all times.
v. If the trunk fails to conduct water at any point, the tree will eventually die due to the failure
of both water and food requirements that are necessary for life.
Parts of a Tree Trunk
1. Outer Bark

Description: The outer bark is a layer of dead cells which protects and covers the layer of
living cells of the cambium.
Bark textures are divided into at least 18 types, that range from smooth (like a beech or Fagus)
to spiny (like a locust or Robinia).
Functions of the Outer Bark
i. Bark is a tree's natural armor and protects it from external threats.
ii. Bark also helps in disposing the tree of wastes by absorbing them and locking them
into its dead cells and resins in the bark.
iii. The bark also influences light passage and gas exchange,
iv. It recognizes and defends against pathogens;
v. It controls tree temperature, and other process that contribute to the survival of the
tree.
vi. Bark textures are relatively uniform according to tree species and the bark makes a
great visual marker for tree identification.
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 2. Inner Bark or Cork Cambium

Description: This tissue occupies the space between the outer bark and the phloem tissues and
is called the cork cambium layer.
Functions of the Cork Cambium
i. This is the layer that generates new bark.
ii. In roots the cambium tissue may store sugars or starches to fuel the spring sap flow.
iii. In leaves, the cambium tissue is the mesophyll cells doing the photosynthesis.
3. Phloem

Description: Phloem, next to the inner bark, develops from the outside layer of the cambium
and is the food track to the roots.
Functions of the Phloem
i. Phloem carries large quantities of manufactured food or sugars that are transported
from leaves toward roots.
ii. When the tree is healthy and growing and sugars are abundant, the extra sugars are
stored in the form of starch which can be converted back into sugars and moved by
the phloem to where it is needed in the tree.
4. Cambium

Description: A layer of tissue once cell thick formed between the wood and the bark of a
tree that is capable of developing new cells. The cambium is a watery layer only a few cells
thick.
Functions of the Cambium
i. The cambium and its "zone" is a cell generator (reproductive tissue called growth
meristem)
ii. Produces both the inner bark cells of the phloem and new living wood cells in the
xylem.
5. Xylem

Description: Xylem is living "sapwood" and is located inside the cambial zone and next to the
heartwood.
The major structures for water transport in xylem are called vessels in angiosperms
(hardwoods) and tracheids in gymnosperms (conifers).
Functions of the Xylem
i. Xylem carries water, substances dissolved in water, and minerals from the roots to
the leaves.
ii. The outer portion of xylem is conducting and storing starch in the symplast plus it
conducts water and substances dissolved in water to the leaves.

3. PHYSIOLOGY OF LEAVES

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  A tree crown is where most bud formation takes place.
 The tree bud is simply a small bundle of growing tissue which develops into embryonic
leaves, flowers and shoots and is essential for primary tree crown and canopy growth.
 In addition to branch growth, buds are responsible for flower formation and leaf
production.
 A tree's small budding structure is wrapped in a simple protecting leaf called the
cataphylls.
 These protected buds allow all plants to continue to grow and produce tiny new leaves
and flowers even when environmental conditions are adverse or limiting.

Some buds contain tiny preformed flowers, or both leaves and flowers. Buds may be
terminal (on the end of the shoot) or lateral (on the side of the shoot, usually at the base
of the leaves).

WATER MOVEMENT IN TREES

Water movement in trees is also a factor of osmotic pressure and capillary action.
1. Osmotic pressure: Osmotic pressure is defined as water flowing through a permeable
membrane in the direction of a higher salt concentration. Water will continue to flow
in the direction of the highest salt concentration until the salts have been diluted to the
point that the concentrations on both sides of the membrane are equal.
2. Capillary action: Capillary action refers to the chemical forces that move water as a
continuous film rather than as individual molecules. Water molecules in the soil and in
the tree cling to one another. So when one molecule is drawn up the plant stem, it pulls
another one along with it. These forces that link water molecules together can be
overcome by gravity.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE LEAVES

1.Chlorophyll
 Chlorophyll is the chemical compound where solar energy (light) is captured and
photosynthesis happens.
 Chlorophyll is continuously produced and broken down during the growing season.
 The heart of the chlorophyll compound is a magnesium molecule. The magnesium
molecule is bonded to many molecules of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.

2.Photosynthesis
 All trees and most plants photosynthesize and respire.
 Photosynthesis literally means “to put together with light”. It occurs only in the
chloroplasts which are tiny sub-cellular structures contained in the cells of leaves and
green stems.
 Inside the chloroplast, the chlorophyll molecules use energy from the sun to make the
hydrogen from the water combined with the carbon and oxygen and from the soluble

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 carbohydrate to produce sugars. The sugars can then be made into starch for storage in
the wood
 Photosynthesis is a process unique to green plants and produces sugars, which are "tree
food". Trees produce their own food called sugar.
 These sugars are not like the refined sugar that people eat, and these sugars don’t usually
taste sweet, but the basic organic components are similar.
 Unlike trees, animals only respire and cannot produce their own food.
 The chemical formula for producing sugars is:
 (6)CO2 + (6)H2O Chlorophyll and Sunlight C6H12O6 +(6) O2

Energy is stored in the bonds of sugar molecules such as glucose and fructose.
 Oxygen is a by-product of photosynthesis. The oxygen molecules produced by
photosynthesis are not necessarily the same oxygen molecules the plants use for
respiration.

3. Respiration
 Trees need energy to grow.
 This energy is released from the food made by photosynthesis in a process called
respiration.
 In respiration, trees convert the sugars (photosynthates) back into energy for growth
and other life and metabolic processes.
 The released energy drives a variety of metabolic actions.
 It is the same process that animals use when they respire. So, either the plant uses its
own stored sugars, or some animal (or decomposer) consumes the plant, and uses the
stored sugars.
 In either case, the sugars are valued chemicals because they contain energy, as well as
important elements (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen).

C6H12O6 + (6) O2 (6)CO2 + (6)H2O + ATP

1. Transpiration Stomata

Transpiration is the loss of water in the form of vapor from the surface of foliage.
 Guard cells are cells surrounding each stomata (which is a type of hole in the leaf
surface).
 They help to regulate the rate of transpiration by opening and closing the stomata.
 When the guard cells are turgid, or swollen, and the stomatal opening is large, the water
potential of the guard cells drops and water enters the guard cells.
 This turgidity is caused by the accumulation of K+ (potassium ions) in the guard cells.
 When the guard cells have lost water, the cells become flaccid and the stomatal opening
closes. This may occur when the plant has lost an excessive amount of water.
 In addition, it generally occurs daily as light levels drop and the use of carbon dioxide
in

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 In photosynthesis decreases.
 As water vapor evaporates from the stomata it is replaced by water being pulled from
the xylem. The water in the xylem is coming from the tree’s roots.
 In other words, water is being pulled up through the tree by transpiration, like drinking
water through a straw.
 Transpiration uses about 90% of the water that enters the tree.
 The other 10% is an ingredient in photosynthesis and cell growth and it is called the
trees sap.

Transpiration serves three important purposes:

1. Movement of minerals: water moves up from the root, by way of the xylem, and sugars
which are products of photosynthesis throughout the tree by way of the phloem. Water serves
as both the solvent and the avenue of transport.

2. Cooling: 80% of the cooling effect of a shade tree comes from the evaporative cooling
effects of transpiration. This benefits both plants and humans.

3. Turgor pressure: Water maintains the turgor pressure in cells much like air inflates a
balloon, giving the non-woody plant parts form

TREE MOVEMENTS

Trees appear immobile because they are rooted in one place. However, time lapse
photography reveals that parts of trees move frequently. Trees move in response to several
environmental stimuli such as: light, gravity and mechanical disturbances.
These movements fall into two groups: (i) Tropisms (ii) Nastic movements.
1.Tropism
A tropism is a plant movement that is determined by the direction of a biological stimulus.
 Movement toward an environmental stimulus is called a positive tropism,
 Movement away from a stimulus is called a negative tropism.

Each kind of tropism is named for its stimulus. For example, a plant movement in response
to light coming from one particular direction is called a phototropism.
(a)
Gravitropism
 Gravitropism is a plant growth response to gravity.
 A root usually grows downward and a stem usually grows upward.
 Like phototropism, gravitropism appears to be regulated by auxins.
 It occurs when a seedling is placed horizontally, auxins accumulate along the lower
sides of the root and the stem.
 This concentration of auxins stimulates cell elongation along the lower side of the stem,
and the stem grows upward.
 A similar concentration of auxins inhibits cell elongation on the lower side of the root,
and thus the root grows downward.

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(b). Chemotropism
 Chemotropism is a plant growth response to a chemical.
For example, after a flower is pollinated, a pollen tube grows down through the stigma
and style and enters the ovule through the micropyle to produce a seed.

2.Nastic Movement
 Some plants make nastic movements.
 Nastic movements differ from tropic movements in that the direction of tropic
responses depends on the direction of the stimulus, whereas the direction of nastic
movements is independent of the stimulus's position.
 Nastic movements are non-directional responses to stimuli (e.g. temperature, humidity,
light), and are usually associated with plants.
 The movement can be due to changes in turgor or changes in growth.
 The rate or frequency of these responses increases as intensity of the stimulus
increases. An example of such a response is the opening and closing of flowers. This
movement is caused by the rapid loss of turgor pressure (water pressure) in certain cells,
a process similar to that which occurs in guard cells in order to close stomata.
 Physical stimulation of the plant leaf causes potassium ions to be pumped out of the
cells at the base of the leaflets and petioles. Water then moves out of the cells by
osmosis. As the cells shrink, the plant leaves move. It is believed that the folding of a
plant's leaves in response to touch is to discourage insect feeding.

(i).Photoperiodism
The physiological response of a tree to changing length of day and night period is called
photoperiodism.
 Many angiosperms flower at about the same time every year. This occurs even though
they may have started growing at different times.
 Their flowering is a response to the changing length of day and night as the season
progresses. The phenomenon is called photoperiodism. It also helps promote cross
pollination.
 Photoperiodism is the mechanism by which many of our hardwood trees regulate their
various life processes, including preparing for winter.
 Many plants have the ability to adjust their cycles to the changes in the amount of
available daylight.

(ii) Nyctinastic Movement

 Nyctinastic movements are plant movements in response to the daily cycle of light and
dark.
Examples of trees that demonstrate these movements include honeylocust and silk
trees. Both trees move their leaf blades horizontally during daylight hours and
vertically at night. The nyctinastic movements involve the osmotic mechanism, but the
changes in turgor pressure are more gradual.

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 TREE GROWTH REGULATORS
The growth and development of a tree is influenced by genetic factors, external environmental
factors, and chemical hormones inside the tree. Trees respond to many environmental factors
such as light, gravity, water, inorganic nutrients and temperature
Tree Hormones
Genetic information also regulates the production of hormones.
The categorise of Hormones are:
(i). Auxins (ii). Gibberellins, (iii) Ethylene, (iv) Cytokines (v) Abscisic.
(i). Auxins
Functions of Auxins
 Auxins are hormones involved in plant-cell elongation, apical dominance, and rooting.
 A well-known natural auxin is indoleacetic acid, or IAA which is produced in the apical
meristem of the shoot.
 Developing seeds produce IAA, which stimulates the development of a fleshy fruit. For
example, the removal of seeds from an apple prevents the fruit from enlarging.
 However, the application of IAA after removing the seeds causes the fruit to enlarge
normally.
 Before a cell can elongate, the cell wall must become less rigid so that it can expand.
 IAA triggers an increase in the plasticity of cell walls, allowing this elongation to occur.

Synthetic Auxins
Chemists have synthesized several inexpensive compounds similar in structure to
IAA. Synthetic auxins, like naphthalene acetic acid, of NAA. The effects of a hormone on a
plant often depend on the stage of the plant development.
Functions of Synthetic Auxins
 NAA are used extensively to promote root formation on stem and leaf cuttings.
 When NAA is sprayed on young fruits of apple and olive trees, some of the fruits drop
off so that the remaining fruits grow larger.
 When NAA is sprayed directly on maturing fruits, such as apples, pears and citrus fruits,
several weeks before they are ready to be picked, NAA prevents the fruits from
dropping off the trees before they are mature. The fact that auxins can have opposite
effects, causing fruit to drop or preventing fruit from dropping, illustrates an important
point.
 NAA is also used to prevent the undesirable sprouting of stems from the base of
ornamental trees. As previously discussed, stems contain a lateral bud at the base of
each leaf. In many stems, these buds fail to sprout as long as the plant's shoot tip is still
intact.

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  The inhibition of lateral buds by the presence of the shoot tip is called apical
dominance. If the shoot tip of a plant is removed, the lateral buds begin to grow. If IAA
or NAA is applied to the cut tip of the stem, the lateral buds remain dormant. This
adaptation is manipulated to cultivate beautiful ornamental trees.

(ii). Gibberellins
In the 1920's scientists in Japan discovered that a substance produced by the
fungus Gibberella caused fungus-infected plants to grow abnormally tall.
The substance, named gibberellin, was later found to be produced in small quantities by plants
themselves.
Functions of Gibberellins
 It has many effects on a plant, but primarily stimulates elongation growth.
 Spraying a plant with gibberellins will usually cause the plant to grow to a larger than
expected height.
 Almost all seedless grapes are sprayed with gibberellins to increase the size of the fruit
and the distance between fruits on the stems.
 Beer makers use gibberellins to increase the alcohol content of beer by increasing the
amount of sugar produced in the malting process.
 Gibberellins are also used to treat seeds of some food crops because they will break
seed dormancy and promote uniform germination.

(iii). Ethylene
 Unlike the other four classes of plant hormones, ethylene is a gas at room temperature.
 Ethylene gas diffuses easily through the air from one plant to another.
 The saying "One bad apple spoils the barrel" has its basis in the effects of ethylene gas.
 One rotting apple will produce ethylene gas, which stimulates nearby apples to ripen
and eventually spoil because of over ripening.
 Ethylene is usually applied in a solution of ethephon, a synthetic chemical that breaks
down and releases ethylene gas.

Functions of Ethylene
 The hormone ethylene is responsible for the ripening of fruits.
 It is used to ripen bananas, honeydew melons and tomatoes. Oranges, lemons, and
grapefruits often remain green when they are ripe.
 Although the fruit tastes good, consumers often will not buy them, because oranges are
supposed to be orange.
 The application of ethylene to green citrus fruit causes the development of desirable
citrus colors, such as orange and yellow.
 In some plant species, ethylene promotes abscission, which is the detachment of leaves,
flowers, or fruits from a plant.
 Cherries and walnuts are harvested with mechanical tree shakers. Ethylene treatment
increases the number of fruits that fall to the ground when the trees are shaken.

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  Leaf abscission also has an adaptive advantage for the plant. Dead, damaged or infected
leaves drop to the ground rather than shading healthy leaves or spreading disease.

(iv). Cytokines
Functions of Cytokinine
 Cytokines promote cell division in plants.
 Produced in the developing shoots, roots, fruits, and seeds of a plant, cytokines are very
important in the culturing of plant tissues in the laboratory.
 A high ratio of auxins to cytokines in a tissue-culture medium stimulates root
formation.
 A low ratio promotes shoot formation.
 Cytokines are also used to promote lateral bud growth in flowering plants

(v). Abscisic Acid

It was originally thought to promote abscission, hence its name.
Functions of Abscisic Acid
 Abscisic acid, or ABA, generally inhibits other hormones, such as the auxin IAA.
 ABA helps to bring about dormancy in a plant's buds and maintains dormancy in its
seeds.
 ABA causes the closure of a plant's stomata in response to drought.
 Water stressed leaves produce large amounts of ABA, which triggers potassium ions to
be transported out of the guard cells. This causes stomata to close, and water is held in
the leaf.

PHYSIOLOGY OF PARASITIC PLANT

Dodder flowers

What are parasitic plants?

They are plant that obtains all or part of its nutrition from another plant (the host) without
contributing to the benefit of the host and, in some cases, causing extreme damage to the host.

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Classification of Parasitic plants

1. Hemiparasites: Hemiparasites have at least some ability to photosynthesize; they

primarily rely on their hosts for water and mineral nutrients

2. Holoparasites: Holoparasites, on the other hand, are nonphotosynthetic and depend on

their hosts for all nutrition.

Classification of parasitic plant based on Nutrition and life cycle

1. Obligate: Obligate parasites have an absolute requirement for a host

2. Facultative: Facultative parasites can live and reproduce in the absence of a host

Characteristics of parasitic plants

1. The defining structural feature of a parasitic plant is the haustorium, a specialized organ
that penetrates the host and forms a vascular union between the plants.

2. Parasitic plants differ from plants such as climbing vines, lianas, epiphytes, and
aerophytes; though the latter are supported by other plants, they are not parasitic, because
they use other plants simply as a structure on which to grow rather than as a direct source of
water or nutrients.

3. All parasitic plant species are angiosperms, among which parasitism has evolved
independently about 12 times. Some examples of parasitic angiosperm families
include Balanophoraceae, Orobanchaceae, and Rafflesiaceae.

Host dependence

 Parasitic plants evolved from nonparasitic plants and thus underwent an

evolutionary transition from autotrophy to heterotrophy, which may be partial or
complete. Indeed, parasitic plants differ in the extent to which they depend on their
hosts for nutrients. Hemiparasites have at least some ability to photosynthesize; they
primarily rely on their hosts for water and mineral nutrients. Holoparasites, on the other
hand, are nonphotosynthetic and depend on their hosts for all nutrition.
 Species of parasitic plants also differ with regard to whether they need the host in order
to complete their life cycle. Obligate parasites have an absolute requirement for a host,
whereas facultative parasites can live and reproduce in the absence of a host. All
holoparasites are, by definition, obligate. Even though hemiparasites are
photosynthetically competent, some species nevertheless are obligate in terms of their
reliance on a host for their reproduction.
 Given the different origins of parasitism, it is not surprising that parasitism
is manifested in diverse ways.
i. Some species parasitize the roots of their hosts,
ii. whereas others attack stems.
 The haustorium itself may develop from roots or stems, depending on the parasite
species, and haustoria display a wide range of morphologies. One prominent distinction
is in the proportion of a parasite that grows internally versus externally to the host. For
most parasite species, only the haustorium is embedded inside the host, serving to feed
the parasite located externally to the host. However, the haustorium of some species

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 proliferates in such a way that all vegetative growth occurs within the host
(endophytically), and the parasite emerges only to flower. Examples of that include
members of the genus Rafflesia, which grow inside the tropical vine Tetrastigma,
and stemsuckers (genus Pilostyles), which live within members of the pea family
(Fabaceae).

Branched broomrape European mistletoe

Rafflesia flower European mistletoe

Host identification

 In order to survive and reproduce, parasitic plants must be able to recognize the
presence of a neighbouring plant and have mechanisms to ensure that their seeds
encounter appropriate hosts.
 The seeds of generalist parasites (those with a wide range of potential hosts) typically
germinate under environmental conditions that are favourable to nonparasites.
 Once the parasite seeds have developed into seedlings, they then must locate a host.
 The roots of generalist root parasites are able to recognize and form haustoria with the
roots of other plants that they encounter in the soil.
 Similarly, the threadlike shoot of the generalist dodder seedling, a stem
parasite, elongates and uses information about the colour of the host and volatile
chemicals it produces in order to orient growth toward the host; once the shoot has
reached the host plant, it coils and forms haustorial connections.
 Specialist parasites, many of which are obligates, tend to have additional mechanisms
to detect their specific host plants. The best-studied examples are parasites of the family
Orobanchaceae (e.g., Orobanche, Phelipanche, and Striga), the seeds of which are

15
 extremely small and may sit in the soil for years until the root of an appropriate host
has grown nearby. At that point the parasite seed detects a chemical signal (generally a
strigolactone, a type of plant hormone) exuded from the host root, which
triggers germination of the parasite seed. The parasite radicle (embryonic root) then
grows a short distance, typically less than 2 mm (0.08 inch), to contact the host root and
produce a haustorium.

Witchweed Dwarf mistletoe

Impact of parasitic plants

1. Although most parasitic plant species are considered wild flowers

or botanical curiosities, several species are weedy and capable of causing substantial
losses of agricultural crops.
2. Among the most harmful are members of the
Orobanchaceae. Witchweeds (Striga species), for example, generally attack cereal
crops, including corn (maize), sorghum, millet, and rice, in Africa. The common name
of the plant reflects the dramatic effect it has on affected crops, seeming to magically
arrest host growth and devastate yields.
3. The broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche species) attack broadleaf crops in the
Mediterranean and Middle East and are a major constraint to the production of legumes,
oilseed crops, and solanaceous crops (e.g., tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplants).
4. Additional weedy genera include dodders, which attack a wide variety of broadleaf
crops, and dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium), which damage coniferous trees.
5. In all cases, the close physical connection between parasite and host, including location
of the parasite belowground or within the host, makes control of parasitic weeds
difficult.

STRESS PHYSIOLOGY IN PLANTS

What is Plant Stress?
Stress in plants is a condition in which the plant growing in non-optimal or poor state that
negatively influences the plant growth, crop productivity, reproductive capacity or death if the
stress exceeds the plant tolerance limits.
It comprises a large range of factors which can be generally divided into two major groups:
i. Biotic (Biological stress)
Biotic stress factor is a biological harm (pathogens and pests), which a plant faces during its
period. Microorganisms are most important in the form of diseases (viral, bacterial and fungal

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diseases) inducing biotic stress. As we can say that, biotic stress is an external biological stress
that disturbs the plant growth and affects almost all the group of plants, as well as cells, tissue,
molecules, organelles, entire plants or even entire plant residents.

ii. Abiotic or environmental stress factors. Abiotic stress factor includes the various
environmental issues that disturb plant growth (such as light, water-logging, temperature,
salinity, drought and heavy metal toxicity).
Due to constant climatic change and worsening of situation, a high risk is developed for food
security and this state is imbalanced by human action.

Some Major Types of Abiotic Stress

1. Drought or water stress

2. Salt stress
3. Temperature stress
4. Light stress
5. Heavy metal stress

STRATEGY FOR MANAGING PLANT STRESS

i. Escaper: Those plants or organism who completing their life cycle before the occurrence of
a stress.
ii. Stress Avoider: By altering their morphology in accordance with the stress, such as reduced
leaf area, stomatal conductance.
iii. Stress Tolerant: Tolerate the effect of stress without dying or suffering injury. Attained by
specific physiological, biological and molecular mechanism at cell level which include specific
gene expression and accumulation of specific proteins.

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