How Plants Grow

Mort Kothmann
Texas A&M University
 Plant Development and Responses to
Grazing
Objective 1
Review the developmental morphology and
growth form of grass plants.
Objective 2.
Evaluate some major physiological and
morphological plant responses to grazing.
Objective 3.
Explore the mechanisms that convey grazing
resistance to plants.
 Functional Categories of Plants
Annual (grass, forb)
Perennial (grass, forb)
Woody
Deciduous or evergreen
Sprouting or non-sprouting (basal)
Cool season or warm season
Anti-herbivory
Chemical
Physical
Major Plant Groups on Rangelands
Tree

Dicots Monocots
Grass
Shrub Forb
Grasslike
Surviving plants have strong drought resistance and
well developed chemical or structural anti-herbivory.
Grassland with scattered shrubs and small trees on
upland. Competition is for light and soil resources. Fire is
a major determinant of the dominant vegetation. Grazing
tolerance is more important than anti-herbivory.
 Developmental Morphology
Phytomer Organization Tiller Organization Plant Organization

Blade Ligule

Tiller 1
Phytomer 4
Sheath

Tiller 2
Intercalary
Meristems Phytomer 3

Internode
Tiller 3
Phytomer 2
Node Axillary Phytomer 1
Bud
 Tiller Cross Section

Leaf Blade Intercalary Meristem

Emerging Tiller
Leaf Sheath

Apical Meristem

Axillary Bud

Adventitious Root
Culmless Versus Culmed Tillers
Culmed
Apical Meristem

Culmless

Axillary
Buds
Basal Location of Grass Regrowth
in Cumless Tillers
 Meristematic Contribution to Grass Growth

Contribution to Biomass Production

Intercalary Apical Axillary

Meristems Meristems Buds

Hours Days Weeks

Rate of Growth Following Defoliation

Leaf elongation Leaf production Tiller production

(Cell division & (Activation of dormant
(Cell enlargement)
differentiation) buds)
 Factors Limiting Plant Growth
Heat (optimal temperature)
Below-Ground (roots)
Water
Nitrogen and other nutrients
Above-Ground (shoot)
Light
CO2
Meristems (apical, intercalary, axillary)
 Resources and Meristems
Intercalary meristems are primarily involved with cell
enlargement which requires primarily CHO and has
low N requirement.
Axillary meristems are sites of cell division and
differentiation. Cell division requires N; thus N
availability will limit the number of active meristems.
N content of leaves is generally 2X that of roots; thus,
low N results in less shoot growth relative to root
growth.
 Allocation of Plant Resources
Plants allocate resources (phytosynthetate) with the
priority towards acquiring the most limiting
resource(s).
If water is limiting, allocation is shifted towards root
growth over shoot growth.
If leaf area is limiting, allocation is shifted towards
leaf growth over shoot growth.
 Key Concepts
N uptake is with water; if water is limiting, N
will be limiting
Higher levels of available N increase water use
efficiency
Level of available NO3 in the soil affects the
species composition of the vegetation
Weeds require higher levels of NO3 than do climax
grasses
Physiological Responses to Grazing
 Effects of Grazing on Plants
1. Removal of photosynthetic tissues reduces a plants
ability to assimilate energy.
2. Removal of meristems (apical & intercalary) delays
or stops growth.
3. Removal of reproductive structures reduces a
plants ability to produce new individuals.
4. Grazing is a natural ecological process and
overgrazing occurred prior to humans.
5. Properly managed grazing is a sustainable
enterprise, but destructive grazing can occur.
 Compensatory Photosynthesis
120

110
PN (% of preclipping Ps rate)

100

90

80 Control
Moderately clipped
Heavily clipped
70

0 2 4 6 8 10

Time From Clipping (days)

 Resource Allocation
Biomass partitioning to roots and sheath is reduced
much more than to leaves following partial
defoliation.
Treatment Total growth Blade growth Sheath growth Root growth
mg mg % total mg % total mg % total

Undefoliated 69 23 33 17 25 20 29

Defoliated 38 20 53 8 21 7 18

Detling et al. 1979

Root Responses to Defoliation
50%

70%

90%

All roots
50% of roots stopped
No roots stopped growing for
stopped growing for 17 days
growing 17 days
 Root Responses to Defoliation
Root growth decreases proportionally as
defoliation removes greater than 50% of the
plant leaf area.
Frequency of defoliation interacts with
defoliation intensity to determine the total
effect of defoliation on root growth.
The more intense the defoliation, the greater the
effect of frequency of defoliation.
 Consequences of Reduced Root
Growth
The net effect of severe grazing is to reduce:
Total absorptive area of roots.
Soil volume explored for soil resources e.g. water
and nitrogen.
How may this alter competitive interactions?
 TNC Contribution to Shoot Regrowth
Carbohydrate reserves exist and they provide a small
amount of energy to contribute to initial leaf growth
following severe grazing or leaf damage e.g., fire, late
spring freeze.
Current photosynthesis is the primary source for
growth of new shoots.
 Growth is Exponential
The initial or residual amount of plant tissue is
very important in determining the rate of
plant growth at any point in time.
The total amount of root and shoot biomass is
more important than the concentration of
reserve CHO.
 Morphological characteristics
Primary growth forms of grasses
Bunchgrasses
Turf or sod grasses
 Stolons and Rhizomes
Stolon

Rhizome
Variation of the Grass Growth Form

Bunchgrass Intermediate Sodgrass Growth-

Growth-form Growth-form form
Bunchgrass Growth Form
 Herbivory Resistance
Grazing Resistance
(Mechanisms enabling plants
to survive in grazed systems)

Avoidance Tolerance
(Mechanisms that reduce (Mechanisms that increase
the probability of grazing) growth following grazing)

Morphological Biochemical Morphological Physiological

Characteristics Compounds Characteristics Characteristics
Anti-quality Factors in Forages
 Classes of Anti-quality
Structural plant traits
Plant parts
Spines, Awns, Pubescence
Plant maturity
Leaf:Stem ratio
Live:Dead
Reproductive:Vegetative tillers
Tensile/shear strength
Structural Anti-quality
Fiber components
Cell walls
Lignin
Silica
 Anti-quality
Mineral imbalances
Excess
Silicon
Se
Mo
NO3
Deficiency
N, P, K, Mg (macro minerals)
Cu, Co, Se, Zn
 Anti-quality
Alkaloids
Western plants
Largest class of secondary compounds
Found in 20-30% of plant species
Highly toxic
Eastern plants
Ergot alkaloids
Fescue pastures
Dallisgrass
Perennial ryegrass
 Toxicity of anti-herbivory compounds
Plants with highly toxic compounds do not
allow animals to learn from negative post-
ingestive feedback.
Plants with less toxic compounds allow animal
to learn and develop aversions.
When nutritious forage is limited, positive
feedback may override negative feedback and
animals will consume toxic plants.