Mineral Nutrition of Plants
Contents: I. Mineral nutrition of plants: 1. World food possibilities and fertility status of our soils. II. Physico-chemical and biological factors affecting nutrient availability in soils: 2. Soil as a medium for plant growth. 3. The activities of cations held by soil colloids and the chemical environment of plant roots. 4. The availability of soil anions. 5. Contact phenomena between adsorbents and their significance in plant nutrition. 5. The effect of soil physical properties on nutrient availability. 6. Role of soil microorganisms in nutrient availability. III. Mechanism of entry and translocation of mineral nutrients in plants: 7. The nature of the process of inorganic solute accumulation in roots. 8. The mechanism of ion absorption. 9. The translocation of minerals in plants. IV. Some field problems in plant nutrition: 10. Control of nitrogen effects on Mclntosh apple trees in new York. 11. Production of vegetable crops for the canning industry. IV. Role of minerals in plant nutrition: 12. Growth and function as criteria in determining the essential nature of inorganic nutrients. 13. Mineral nutrition in relation to the ontogeny of plants. 14. Correlations between protein-carbohydrate metabolism and mineral deficiencies in plants. V. Modifying influences of various environmental factors upon mineral nutrition: 15. Light as a modifying influence on the mineral nutrition of plants. 16. Soil moisture and the mineral nutrition of plants. 17. Environmental influences on the growth of Sugar Cane.
Nearly all the chemical elements that make up living things are mineral elements, the ultimate source of which is rock weathered into soil. The plant physiologist must horticulturist and forester meet problems almost daily which require for their solution specific knowledge dialing with the mineral nutrition of many kinds of plants, and lastly the fertilizer manufacturer, who is called upon to supply the needed mineral nutrients.
Mineral Nutrition of Plants explains that plant roots “mine” these nutrient elements from their inorganic substrate and introduce them into the realm of living things. The author traces the subsequent movement of these nutrients into other plant organs, tissues, cells, and organelles, their biochemical assimilation, and their functions in plant physiology and metabolism. Treatment of these processes extents from molecular biology through global biogeochemistry. The text is accessible both to undergraduate students in plant physiology, agronomy, horticulture and environmental studies and to researchers in these and other plant biological fields.
