Introduction

Introduction to Mineral Requirement of Plants

Just like we need food to grow, plants need special things from the ground to grow well and stay healthy.

Mineral nutrients are substances that plants need for healthy growth and development.

These are the natural materials that make a plant grow strong instead of being weak.

The plant gets these nutrients from the ground after they have dissolved in water.

These nutrients are obtained from the soil in the form of a solution.

This means the minerals mix with water in the soil so the plant can drink them.

The plant uses its roots to drink up this water that contains the nutrients.

Plants absorb these nutrients through their roots.

The roots act like a straw to pull the food from the soil.

After the roots take the nutrients, they travel up the plant body to the leaves and branches.

Once absorbed, the nutrients are transported through the stem to different parts of the plant that are above the ground.

The stem acts like a road that carries the nutrients to every part of the plant.

The ground is the big store where most of these minerals are kept.

The soil serves as the main source of mineral salts.

Most of the food the plant needs stays inside the sand or soil.

Some other things the plant needs to live come from the air around it.

Gaseous elements, such as oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, come mainly from the atmosphere.

Air gives the plant things like oxygen and carbon which it cannot get from the sand.

Scientists group these important plant foods into two types based on how much the plant needs to eat.

These elements, which are essential for plants, are classified into two categories based on the quantity that plants require.

We group them by checking if the plant needs a lot of the mineral or just a small pinch.

The two groups are:

Macronutrients or major elements.

Micronutrients or trace elements.