PLANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Differences between growth and

development
Growth
Accumulation of dry matter as the
result of light interception and
partitioning of assimilates from
photosynthetic activity.

This leads to an increment of plant

height, dry matter weight and leaf
area expansion.
Growth = Its all about the
SIZE!!

Growth characteristics
height, weight, leaf size
 How does a plant grow?
Plant growth originates within the buds
in regions known as meristems
(apical, axile and lateral)

In these meristems, cell division

and cell elongation occur, and these
processes will eventually produce
tissues that will develop into the
root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and
seed
Plant Development

Chronological progression through

distinct events; from germination,
seedling emergence, leaf
appearance, flowering and maturity
within a plant life cycle.

Each development event describes

plant ontogenetic change.
 Vegetative Plant
Development
Leaf appearance

Germination Seedling emergence

 Germination starts from imbibition of
water causing the seed to swell, which
is then followed by emergence and
elongation of the cotyledons of the
radicle
Emergence 1st leaf appearance 2nd leaf production
 Seed Germination
Germination is a process where seed
develop the structures required to
become a seedling.

A radicle is developed and protrudes

through the seed coat (testa), causing
the testa to be broken.

The radicle then elongates down into

the soil.
 Germination and seedling
emergence
Germination of seed does not require
light.
In dicotyledon plants, germination
leads to the emergence of a seedling
root and two cotyledons.
 Germination and seedling
emergence
Seed contain food reserves stored in the
endosperm which is essential for
germination.

Cotyledons also contain food reserves for

growth.

Successfulgermination and seedling

emergence depends on a combination of
adequate soil moisture and favourable
temperatures.
 Leaf appearance
Following seedling emergence, a
terminal bud grows to produce a first
leaf and then more leaves which
appear alternately on the primary
stem.

The rate of leaf appearance

determines its success in
establishment and competition with
other species.
 Leaf appearance

10
9
8
7
6
5
Phyllochron 4
3
 Phyllochron
Phyllochron (phyllo = leaf; chron
= time)

Defined as the time interval

between the appearance of
successive leaves on the main
stem.
 Meristem (or growing
point)
There are two classes of meristems:
vegetative meristem and reproductive
meristem

Vegetative meristems give rise to plant parts

such as stems, leaves and roots

Reproductive meristems give rise to

flowers that ultimately will develop into
fruits and seeds
Main driver of plant development

Plant development is driven by

temperature and modified by photoperiod
(daylength).

Inmost cases, physiological processes

and development rates increase with
temperature.

However, extremely high or low

temperatures can be detrimental to plant
processes.
Main driver of plant development
The range of temperatures under
which growth and development
respond optimally is dependent on the
type of crop and species.

In the germination processes, as soon

as seed dormancy is broken and seed
has imbibed, the percentage and rate
of seed germination depends largely
on temperature.
Main driver of plant development
Under non-limiting moisture conditions, the
production of leaves is driven by the
accumulation of daily mean temperatures.
Photoperiod refers to the duration of light in
a cycle or daylength.
It is calculated as the duration (hours) when
the geometric centre of the sun moves from
6o below the eastern horizon (before sunrise)
to when the sun reaches 6o below the
western horizon (after sunset) and therefore
includes civil twilight.
Photoperiod modifies plant
development

6
o

Civil twilight
 Photoperiod modifies plant
development
Photoperiod calculations include civil
twilight because changes in transient
light quality (mainly the ratio of red/far
red light) occur at dawn and dusk.

These are sensed by phytochrome,

which regulates many plant
development responses such as leaf
prduction and flowering, hence the
common term is known as
photoperiodism.
 Photoperiod modifies plant
development
Plantsare responsive to photoperiod for
only part of their life cycle, which is
between emergence and flowering.

During this vegetative period, there are

two phases that can be identified in
plants, namely juvenile and inductive
phase.

Juvenile
phase is insensitive to the
photoperiod,
 Photoperiod modifies plant
development

Photoperiod only affects the duration

of the inductive phase.

This photoperiod induction occurs in

the leaves and the flowering stimulus
moves from the phloem to the
meristems where flowers are to be
initiated.
Reproductive development
The reproductive phase begins with flower
initiation, when the shoot at the primary
stem changes from producing new young
leaves to producing a flower bud.

These flower buds will form inflorescences

and each of these will develop into floral
organs.
Reproductive development
Prima gland
clover
Reproductive development
Prima gland
clover
 Floral induction
Floralinduction is a physiological
change that allows for the
development of reproductive primodia

The floral induction may occurs

before the actual flowering takes place
by several days, weeks or even months

There are three (3) common stimuli

involved in floral induction
1. Temperature Stimuli

Many plants in the temperate region

require exposure to low
temperatures before floral induction
can occur

This phenomenon of exposure

to low temperature to
evoke flowering is known as
vernalization
Examples:
Rye (Secale cereale), a winter annual, perennial
ryegrass (Lolium perenne), tulip (Tulipa gesneriana)
both must undergo prolonged exposure to low
temperatures (vernalization) before they can produce
flowers.

Inchrysanthemum and tomato, floral induction is

accomplished by alternated periods of low and high
temperatures, and this phenomenon is called
thermoperiodism and occur in many species of plants.
2. Photoperiod Stimuli
The response of a plant to the changes in
day/night length triggers the seasonal timing for
floral initiation

However, it is the length of night or dark period,

that influences flowering

These flowering plants use phytochrome (a

photoreceptor protein) to detect seasonal
changes in night length, which they take as
signal to flower.
Photoperiodic responses of plants can be
catogorized into short-day, long-day or day-
neutral.

Short-day (i.e. long-night) plants flower as days

grow shorter (and nights grow longer). Eg, rice,
sunflower, soybean, chrysanthemum.

Long-day plants flower in spring and summer

when the day lengths are getting longer. Eg, oat,
wheat

Plantsfrom tropical regions tend to be day-neutral

where flowering induction is not affected by
daylength. Eg. tomato, rose, cucumber
Within the short and long-day
photoperiodic groups, plants can
exhibit a facultative (quantitative) or
an obligate (qualitative) response.

In a facultative response, flowering is

enhanced with increasing (long-day
plant) or decreasing (short-day plant)
photoperiod.

Obligateresponse required a specific

photoperiod (hour) to flower.
3. Hormone Stimuli
Giberellic
acid as a substitute for vernalization
and photoperiodic treatment.

Many plants which require cold treatment also

require proper photoperiodic treatment for
the induction of flowers, without which
vernalization does not have any effect.

Ifsuch plants are treated with gibberellins,

they produce flowers without subjecting the
plants to cold and photoperiodic treatments.
During reproductive development, auxins specify
the site of flower initiation and subsequently
regulate organ growth and development.

Hormonesare the method by which plants

communicate internally.

The floral stimulus is received in the leaves and

this leads to the biosynthesis of hormones (usually
gibberellins) in various parts of the plant.

These travel through the phloem to the apical

meristem and cause the cells to initiate floral
production by altering patterns of gene expression
and cell morphology.
 Indeterminate growth habit

In indeterminate species, the flowers are

initiated at the axillary buds rather than
the terminal bud, and the leaf
appearance does not stop at the
appearance of the first flowers.

The plant continues to grow in stem

length, set flowers and seeds as long as
temperature and moisture permit.

Mostly on perennial crops.

Determinate growth habit

Determinate species convert their

terminal bud from a vegetative to
reproductive state, resulting in the
production of a terminal flower.

Hence, the appearance of first flowers

marks the completion of leaf canopy
expansion (vegetative growth)

Mostly on annual crops.

 Annual, Biennial &
Perennial
Annuals - Plants that perform their
entire life cycle from seed to flower to
seed within a single growing season
(< one year). The plants then die and
the new offspring will regenerate from
seeds.

Perennials
- Plants that persist for
many growing seasons (> two years).

Biennials - Plants which require two

years to complete their life cycle.
FLOWER MORPHOLOGY
There are two groups of spermatophytha or flowering
plants: gymnosperm and angiosperm

Gymnosperms have their seeds uncovered or naked,

while the angiosperm have their seeds protected in
seeds coats

A typical flower of an angiosperm is

composed of petals, sepals, stamens and a pistil

The petals, often the most conspicuous, are

collectively known as corolla, while the sepals, usually less
conspicuous, are collectively known as calyx
The stamens (or androecium) are the male
pollen-bearing organs, and each of the stamen
consists of an anther and a filament

The pistil (or gynoecium) is the female part of

the flower and it consists of a stigma, style and
ovary

Thestigma receives the pollens from the

anthers when pollination takes place or during
pollination
The ovary may be made up of one or
more carpels, contained in one or more
locules (or cavities)

The manner in which the seeds are

attached to the placenta within the ovary
locules is known as placentation

Three common types of placentation are

axile, parietal, and free-central
placentations
A complete flower is a flower which is made up of a
pistil, stamens, petals and sepals

An incomplete flower lacks any one of the pistil,

stamens, petals or sepals

A flower containing both the stamens (male) and pistil

(female) is termed as a perfect flower

A unisexual flower, can either be a pistillate

or a staminate flower, and is called as an imperfect
flower
A monoecious plant is a species
which have both male (stamens) and
female (pistil) flowers on the same
individual plant

A plant species that have

unisexual flowers (either staminate
or pistillate) on different
individual plants are referred as
dioecious plant
Examples:
monoecious
(rice, hibiscus, corn, lily)

dioecious (honey dew, cucumber)

 Seed development
As the flower bud develops, the
peduncle beneath the flower bud
starts to elongate and the
inflorescence starts unfolding from the
base of the bud and eventually forms
a corolla.
 Seed development
The unfolding of the floret indicates
that it is ready to enter into the next
phase, pollination.

The most basal floret of the

inflorescence is the oldest and
therefore the first to be pollinated.
Browning as
an indicator
of
pollination
 Seed development
Following pollination, the ovary
grows into a seed and the florets
fall off.
 Seed development
The seed grows in size, changes colour
and dries out as it approaches maturity.

The seed is defined as physiologically

mature when the dry weight of the
inflorescence is at its maximum.
 Practical applications
In annual crops, flower initiation is
critical because it marks the starting
point for reproductive development
towards crop maturity and completion
of their life cycle.

However, in a population of plants,

pollination and seed maturity do not
occur within a uniform time period.
 Practical applications
To determine a suitable time for seed harvest
or re-introduce livestock for grazing, farmers
need to know the majority of seeds are
physiologically mature.

Thisis because harvesting before

physiological maturity occur may result in
immature seeds with reduced seed quality
and germination.

Lateharvest risks seed yield losses due to

seed shattering
 Practical applications

Thus, a biological indicator of

physiological maturity is required to
inform harvest time.

Maximum seed dry weight is a

commonly used parameter to define
seed physiological maturity, with the
assumption that seed filling has ended
at this phase.