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1.2Characteristics of Growth
Plant Growth is generally Indeterminate – Plants possess the ability of growth
throughout their life. This is due to the presence of meristems at certain
locations in their body and these meristems have the ability to divide and self –
perpetuate.
Formative Phase – Cell division is the basic event in the growth of plant. All cells
are the result of division of pre-existing cells. Mitosis is the type of cell division
that happens during growth and includes both quantitative and qualitative
division of cells. This division is carried out in two steps – Division of Nucleus,
which is referred as Karyokinesis and division of cytoplasm referred
as Cytokinesis. In case of higher plants, an increase of cells is carried out in
meristematic region, whereby some daughter cells retain this meristematic
activity while some enter in the next phase of growth, i.e. the phase of cell
enlargement.
Cell Enlargement and Cell Differentiation – At this stage, the size of tissues and
organs is increased and this enlargement occurs by
forming Protoplasm, Hydration (absorbing water), developing vacuoles and then
adding new cell wall to make it permanent and thicker.
Cell Maturation – At this stage, the enlarged cells acquire specific size and forms
as per their location and role. Thus, several cells are differentiated from simple
and complex tissues which perform different functions.
Following diagram shows the phases of growth in root. A is the marked radicle
of seedling at the beginning of experiment and B is the condition of seedling
after 48 hours. We can clearly identify zone of cell formation, cell elongation
“The increased growth per unit time is termed as Growth Rate. Thus, the rate of
growth is expressed mathematically.” An organism can produce cells in several
ways and display Geometric as well as Arithmetic Growth. Following diagram
shows both types of growth in plants:
The following diagram displays the various stages of embryo development
showing both Geometric and Arithmetic Phases. Here dark blue
blocks represent the cells capable of division while light blue blocks represents
the cells that have lost the capacity to divide:
Thus, in Arithmetic Growth, only one daughter cell continues to divide while
other differentiates and matures. The following graph represents the length of an
organ against time, whereby a linear curve is obtained. We can clearly observ
e the constant linear growth
against time t.
Lt = Lo + rt
W1 = Woert
Where,
r = relative growth rate and the measure of the ability of plant to produce new
plant material
t = time of growth
1.4Types of Growth
There are five types of Growth:
Primary and Secondary Growth: “The mitotic divisions of meristematic cells
present at the root and shoot apex increases the length of the plant body. This is
referred as Primary Growth and the Secondary meristem that results in an
increase in diameter of the body of plant is called as Secondary Growth.”
Unlimited Growth: This is the stage, when root and shoot of plant continuously
grow from germination stage to death and throughout the entire lifespan.
Limited Growth: This is the stage, when fruits, leaves and flowers stop
growing after attaining certain size. It is also called determinate type of Growth.
Light also affect the growth and development of plant. Several factors of light
like light intensity, duration of light and quality of light influences several
physiological processes like movement of stomata, chlorophyll synthesis,
temperature of aerial organs, formation of anthocyanin, absorption of minerals
streaming of protoplasm and rate of transpiration. Intensity of light also
influences plant growth and the variation in intensity has significant impact on
growth pattern. Most ornamental plants and crops, such as Peas, Corn, Tobacco
and Peas makes stocky and vigorous growth will full sun and thus, is also called
“Sun Plant.”
Difference in wave length of light also effects the growth of plant. Several
experiments have proved that plants that has full spectrum of visible light shows
proper development and increase in dry weight. Plants grown in violet and blue
light tend to dwarf, while plants in red light are taller and spindly.
Duration of light also affects the plant growth as it affects the rate of
photosynthesis. For instance, during winters when days are short, the growth is
very slow, while, it increases during summers when the days are longer.
The plants with lesser availability of oxygen show retarded growth while it is vice
versa in the presence of ample of oxygen. It is important to note that plants in
flooded areas, results in deficiency of soil aeration which on the other hand,
results in poor plant growth.
Water is very important for plants and inadequate water results in poor growth.
Plants grow well only in the presence of optimum water. Plants respond to
deficiency of moisture as well. For instance, peppers, spinach and radishes wilt
and cease to grow when the percentage of water in soil is lower.
Soil nutrients, their quantity and nature also affect the growth of plant. For
Luxuriant Growth, it is important to have adequate amount of nutrients.
There are several classes of growth regulators. Some promote the growth like
Auxins, Florigen, Cytokinins, Gibberellins, etc., while some are growth inhibitors
like ethylene, abscisic and chlorocholine chloride.
The ratio of carbohydrates and nitrogen also govern the growth of plants.
Presence of more carbohydrates as compared to nitrogen facilitates vegetative
growth, fruiting and flowering while presence of more nitrogenous compounds
results in poor vegetative growth.
Following diagram shows the percentage contribution of various factors in the
growth of plants. According to it, the percentage of mineral particles is 45% and
air & water is 25%.
Genotypes are responsible for controlling all the metabolic activities, growth and
development of plant. Expression of genes in the correct sequence is controlled
by two things, i.e. environment and genes. These genes are located in
chromosomes and transcribe information to m-RNA that translates in enzyme
and structural protein.
“While the product of dedifferentiated cells or tissue which lost the ability to
divide are called redifferentiated cells/ tissue and this event is referred as
redifferentiation.”
3.Development
Development is the term that includes all the changes an organism goes
throughout its life cycle right from germination of seeds to attaining senescence.
Thus, it can be said that growth, development and differentiation are three
concepts which are closely related with the events of life. To summarize,
development is the sum total of growth and differentiation and is under the
control of several extrinsic and intrinsic factors.
PGR are divided in two groups on the basis of functions in a Living Plant Body:
Second Group responses to wounds and stresses of abiotic and biotic origin.
These are involved in growth inhibiting activities such as abscission and
dormancy.
Gibberellins: These are another kind of PGR and more than 100 gibberellins are
widely reported in different organisms. These are denoted as GA1, GA2, GA3 and
so on. Amongst these, GA3 was the first gibberellins to be discovered. These are
acidic in nature and possess ability to cause an increase in length of axis. It
causes fruits to elongate and improve shape and also delay senescence.
Gibberellins results in an increase in the length of stem, promotes bolting and
fastens the maturity period.
Cytokinins: These were discovered as kinetin and it does not occur in plants
naturally. Natural cytokinins are formed in those regions where cell division
occurs rapidly. These help in overcoming apical dominance and promote
nutrient mobilization.
4.Photoperiodism
Definition of Photoperiodism
“Photoperiodism is the physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day
or night. It occurs in both animals and plants it can also be defined as the
developmental responses of plants to the relative lengths of light and dark
periods.”
Thus, the term photoperiodism is coined to explain the ability of plants to flower
in response to changes in the relative length of day and night. It is observed that
there are several plants which require periodic exposure to light in order to
induce flowering.
Plants are grouped as per their response to the length of day, in the following
manner:
Long Day Plants: These plants begin flowering when they are exposed to longer
days. Below the critical photoperiod, these plants show only vegetative growth.
The critical photoperiod varies from species to species and plants to plants.
Some of the common examples of long day plants are Radish, Barley, Spinach,
Onion, Carrot and Henbane.
Short Day Plants: These plants flower when the length of day is shorter than
their critical photoperiod. When these plants are exposed to more than the
critical period, it shows vegetative growth. Some of the common examples of
short day plants are Tobacco, Soybean, Sugarcane and Cock – Lebur.
Day Neutral Plants: These plants flower only after completely the period of
vegetative growth irrespective of the duration of day and night. Some of the
common examples include Tomato, Maze, Cucumber, Cotton, some varieties of
Pea, etc.
Following diagram shows short day and long day plants. Here short day plants
flower when the length of day is shorter and on the contrary, long day plants
flower when the length of day is longer.
5.Vernalization
There are several plants in which flowering are qualitatively or quantitatively
dependent on the exposure to low temperature. This phenomenon is referred as
vernalization.
5.1Example of Vernalization
Food plants like barley, wheat rye are of two varieties, i.e. winter and spring
varieties. In this, spring variety is planted in spring and winter variety in winters.
These plants grow in their respective seasons, flower and produce grains before
the end of the growing season.