other modes of nutrition in plants
- Most of the
plants have green pigment called chlorophyll and can make their own food.
- Some plants do
not have chlorophyll and cannot synthesize their own food and are known as
Heterotrophic plants
- This type of
nutrition can be categorized into
- parasitic mode of nutrition
- Insectivorous mode
- saprophytic mode of nutrition
- Symbiotic mode of nutrition
- Let us now
explain these modes in detail
Parasites
- In parasitic
mode of nutrition, plants depend on other plants or animals for their
nourishment.
- Such dependent
plants are called as parasites and the ones on which parasites
depend are called as hosts.
- A parasite plant
climbs on the host plant from which they get all the food.
- The host does
not get any benefit from the parasite.
- Some examples of
parasites are Cuscuta (akash-bel), Cassytha (amar-bel), hookworms,
tapeworms, leeches, etc.
Insectivorous Plants
- The
insectivorous mode of nutrition is observed in plants like pitcher plant
and the Venus fly trap.
- These types of
plants purely depend on other insects and small animals for their
nutrition.
- Pitcher plants
trap small insects inside the pitcher and insects are digested by the
digestive juices secreted in the pitcher.
- Insectivorous
plants grow in those soils which do not contain sufficient nitrogen
mineral.
- These types of
plants are green and carry out photosynthesis to obtain a part of food.
Saprotrophs
- Mode of
nutrition in which organisms or plants that obtain their nutrition from
dead and decaying organic matter is called Saprophytic mode
- The plants which
exhibit saprotrophic mode of nutrition are called as saprotrophs
- Saprotrophs
secrete digestive juices onto dead and decaying matter to dissolve it and
then absorb nutrients from it.
- Examples of
saprotrophs are moulds, mushrooms, yeasts and some bacteria.
Symbiotic plants
- In this mode of
nutrition there is a close association between two different plants of
different categories.
- In such type of
association both the plants get benefited.
- For example
certain fungi live in the roots of the trees. In this case tree provides
nutrients to fungi and in return receives help from it to take up water
and nutrients from the soil.
How nutrients are replenished in the soil
- We know that
plants continuously take nutrients from the soil in order to synthesize
food. As a result of this amount of nutrients in the soil decreases.
- Nutrients in the
soil are replenished by adding fertilisers and manures.
- Fertilisers and
manures contain plants nutrients and minerals like nitrogen, phosphorus
and potassium.
- Another way to
replenish soil is to grow leguminous crops (for example gram, peas, pulses
etc.) in the soil.
- The bacterium
called Rhizobium can take atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into a
soluble form.
- But Rhizobium
cannot make its own food. So it lives in the roots of gram, peas, moong,
beans and other legumes and provides them with nitrogen. In return plants
provide food and shelter to the bacteria.
- Thus plants and
bacteria have a symbiotic relationship here.
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