Soil, Plant Nutrition & RootsChapters 29, 30,

24

Soils and Plant Nutrition• Plants require nutrients from soil• In eastern US, 200 yr to form 2 cm

topsoil (even slower in western where arid)

• What is soil? • A mixture of:

• Mineral particles (sand, silt, clay)• Decomposing organic matter (humus)• Air• Water• Living Organisms

humus

Mineral Particles• Sand 0.05-2.0 mm• Silt 0.002-0.05 mm• Clay < 0.002 mm• Clay soils

• soil water holding capacity, but all water not available for plants

• infiltration rates so runoff• Loamy soils

• even mixture of particle sizes

• best for agricultural

siltsand

clay

Many soils in southeastern Nebraska were formed in parent materials deposited by the glaciers, usually referred to as glacial drift, glacial till or glacial outwash.

Much of the parent material deposited in ancient times has been covered by windblown material. The windblown silty material is called loess. It covers most of Nebraska to varying depths, except in the Sandhills and western portions of the Panhandle.

Where does soil come from?

• Weathering of parent material (bedrock)

• Soil horizons• O horizon

• organic, few cm thick• humus – organic decay products• contained within A horizon in

some classifications• A horizon

• topsoil, 10-30cm thick• greatest physical, chemical, and

biological activity• B horizon

• subsoil, larger particles, 30-60cm

• leaching from A horizon by water percolation

• iron oxide, clay particles, little organic material

• mixed with A horizon when plowed

• C horizon• soil base• partially weathered parent

material, 90-120 cm

Soil Forming Factors• Parent material• Climate• Living organisms• Topography• Time

Extent of North American glaciation

2008 Iowa Floods

June 2008 Rainfallhttp://www.srh.noaa.gov

Cedar Rapids Iowahttp://www.treehugger.com

Soil erosion20 tons/acre

40,000lbs/acre

Some farms in Iowa have no topsoil remaining

(Mary Skopec, Iowa DNR)

Essential Elements for Plants

Macronutrients (9)• required in greater amounts• What do these macronutrients do?

C, H, O - basic organic constituents

N, K, Ca, P - oh my gosh, some very essential

organics: amino acids, nucleotides, ATP,

NADPH, cell wall, regulatory, osmoregulation

Mg, S - chlorophyll, electron transport chain,

amino acids

chlorophyll

Required for normal growth & reproductionNo other element can replaceDirect or indirect action in plant metabolism

Magnesium deficiency Iron deficiency

Chlorosis

amine group

Essential Elements (continued)

Micronutrients (8)• required in lesser quantities

Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, B, Mo, Cl, Ni• What do these micronutrients do?

essential for enzyme function, organ and organelle function, photosynthesis

Manganese: involved in photosynthetic reaction in which oxygen is produced from waterCopper: associated with enzymes involved in redox reactionsIron: component of enzymes involved in the transfer of electronsEtc…..

Plant Growth Medium for fern gametophytes (C-fern)

• MacronutrientsNH4NO3, KH2PO4, MgSO4, CaCl2

• MicronutrientsMnSO4, CuSO4, ZnSO4, H3BO3,

(NH4)6Mo7O24, FeSO4

Nickel

Roots

• Roots are 50-80% of plant biomass in prairie

• Plants “forage” for dilute nutrients in environment

Epidermis: • one cell thick, usually no

cuticle; absorbs water

Cortex:• just interior to epidermis,

waxy protective layer• parenchyma tissue: most of

cortex, often contains starch• endodermis: tightly packed

cells with casparian strip

Stele: • tissue inside cortex• pericycle: interior to

endodermis - a meristem for branch roots

• vascular bundle: xylem as a cross with phloem in armpits

Monocot Root

Dicot Root

Dicot - young stele

Dicot - mid-aged stele

Dicot - old stele

Endodermis change through aging

Casparian Strip

Casparian Strip

• integral band-like portion of primary wall and middle lamella in endodermal cells

• lignin and suberin “valve”• regulates water because

water • must move symplastically

through the endodermal cells’s cytoplasm

• through plasmodesmata between cells

• rather than apoplastically• through intercellular spaces

• water alone moves transcellularly – across cytoplasm membranes

Root hairs

due to molecular structure

O

H H

-

++

a polar molecule - excellent solvent

adhesion

hydrogen bonding

between water molecules

between water and other molecules

cohesion

O

HH

-

++

OH

H

-

++

OH

H

-

++

tensile strength

capillarity - from cohesion and adhesion

Unique Properties of Water

Leaf Anatomy

H2O

• 85-95% of plants is water

• 95% of H20 taken up by plant transpired back into atmosphere

Transpiration and Productivity

• Leaves adapted for photosynthesis• abundant stomata• large number vein endings

• Tradeoff • CO2 in - photosynthesis

• H2O out - transpiration

• H2O limits biomass production in most areas

• Evapotranspiration• transpiration & soil

evaporation• problematic in arid areas

cohesion and adhesion cause water to rise in plants

as water evaporates from the leaf surface,

a column of water

is pulled upward from the soil water

Cohesion-tension theory

vessel elementstracheid

Size comparison of xylem elements

Note distribution of pits in walls of all xylem elements (tracheids and vessels)

pits

perforation plate (end walls)

Problems with water movement

• air bubbles• cavitation

• water column rupture

• embolism• filling with air or

water vapor• solution

• move water around embolism

Is there a limit to water column?

• How tall are the tallest trees?

• What are the tallest trees?

Tallest Tree• Coast Redwood

• Sequoia sempervirens

• Redwood National Park California

• Height = 116m (379.1 feet) named Hyperion; Steve Sillett, Humboldt State U.

• Estimated Age = 2,000+ yrs

• Sillett article

• Nat Geo short video

• Full length redwood video

Save the Redwoods League

Giant Redwood -Sequoiadendron giganteum

• Top: lithograph showing a party of 32 people dancing on the stump of the Discovery Tree, North Calaveras Grove

• Bottom: 30-foot section of the General Noble Tree, which was displayed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and later at the Mall in Washington, DC; it was subsequently taken to the US government's Arlington Experiment Farm, where it was "misplaced"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Giant_sequoia_exhibitionism.jpg

A good review:

• Outline the process of water movement from soil - into the atmosphere

• Include: • structural pathway• physical process

Kingdom Fungi – characteristics

1. body composed of hyphae• filaments, single cell wide• tightly packed together

forming the mycelium• high surface-to-volume

ratio

hyphae

mycelium

2. cell wall made of chitin• polysaccharide• more resistant to

microbial degradation than cellulose

Kingdom Fungi – characteristics

3. lifestyle - heterotrophic• saprophytic

• from dead organisms• parasitic

• from living organisms• mutualistic symbionts

Kingdom Fungi – characteristics

4. sexual and asexual spore producers• asexual with sporangia or

conidiogenous cells (which produce conidia)• very common in air

Alternaria conidia

Cladosporium

Rhizopus - bread mold

Leptosphaeriaceae

Kingdom Fungi – characteristics

Kingdom Fungi – characteristics4. sexual and asexual

spore producers• sexual

• zygospores• ascospores• basidiospores

• classification based in part upon sexual reproduction

Zygomycota

Ascomycota

Basidiomycota

Mycorrhizal associations

• Fungi which infect plant roots

• Mutualism benefits both organisms• increased water and inorganic

nutrient uptake for plant, especially phosphorus

• increased carbohydrate reserve for fungi

• Ectomycorrhizae and endomycorrhizae

• Increase plant yields:• wheat 200%; corn 100%;

onions 3000%

• Found in 80% of plants studied

• Significance to pioneer plants?

Spiranthes cernula Nodding Lady’-tresses

Roots have obligate mycorrhizal associations required for establishment of seedlings

Cypripedium acaulePink Ladyslipper

Long known as having a mychorrhizal association, recent studies indicate a coevolution of Cypripedium and specific fungi