Essential nutrients

1. Department of Soil Science
Submitted By: Utkarsh Kumawat
(A-2015-30-070)
ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS FOR PLANT GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT, THEIR
FUNCTIONS & DEFICIENCY SYMPTOMS, MANURES, FERTILIZERS AND
BIOFERTILIZERS

2. INTRODUCTION
 Plants require elements found in nature to properly
grow and develop.
 Some of these elements are utilized within the
physical plant structure, namely carbon (C), hydrogen
(H), and oxygen (O). These elements, obtained from
the air (CO2) and water (H2O), are the basis for
carbohydrates such as sugars and starch, which
provide the strength of cell walls, stems & leaves and
are also sources of energy for the plant and organisms
that consume the plant.

3. There are 17 elements that are essential for the
growth and full development of higher green
plants according to the criteria laid down by
Arnon and Stout (1939) which was refined by
Arnon (1954). These criteria are:
1. A deficiency of an essential nutrient makes it
impossible for the plant to complete the
vegetative or reproductive stage of its life
cycle.
Criteria of essentiality :

4. 2 Such deficiency is specific to the element in
question and can be prevented or corrected
only by supplying this element.
3 The element is involved directly in the
nutrition and metabolism of the plant.

5. ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS :
 According to Arnon & Stout there are 17 essential nutrients for
plants.
 Nickel (Ni) is the 17th essential nutrient known in 1987.
 Essential nutrients are classified in 2 types:
(1) Macro nutrients: These are absorbed in large amount
from soil and fertilizers.
(2) Micro nutrients: These are required in small amount
from soil and fertilizers.

6. Macro nutrients
Micro nutrients
Essential nutrients
(17)
(9)
(8)
Primary nutrients
Secondary nutrients
(6)
(3)

7.  Macro nutrients: There are 9 macro nutrients required for the
growth and development of plants. These are further sub divided in 2
groups-
(A) Primary nutrients: 1) Carbon (C)
2) Hydrogen (H)
3) Oxygen (O)
4) Nitrogen (N)
5) Phosphorus (P)
6) Potassium (K)
(B)Secondary nutrients: 7) Calcium (Ca)
8) Magnesium (Mg)
9) Sulphur (S)
Basic nutrients

8.  Micro nutrients: There are 8 micro nutrients required for the
growth and development of plants. These are-
1) Boron (B)
2) Manganese (Mn)
3) Copper (Cu)
4) Zinc (Zn)
5) Molybdenum (Mo)
6) Chlorine (Cl)
7) Iron (Fe)
8) Nickel (Ni)
Nickel (Ni) is the 17th essential nutrient known in 1987.

10. Functions and deficiency
symptoms of nutrients

11. NITROGEN
 Major component of plant cells and cell wall. Cell
cytoplasm and organelles contain nitrogen in
combination with C, H, O, P and S.
 Necessary for formation of amino acids, the building
blocks of protein.
 Essential for plant cell division, vital for plant vegetative
growth.
 Integral part of chlorophyll
 Necessary component of vitamins
 Improves the quality of leafy vegetables
 Affects energy reactions in the plant

12. Deficiency symptoms :
 Lower leaves become yellow firstly and dries
 Tillering is poor in cereals
 Stunted growth
 In case of cabbage, there is no formation of heads
 ‘V’ shaped chlorosis on older leaves

13. PHOSPHORUS
 Great role in energy storage and transfer in the form of
ATP and ADP. So it is also called as “Energy currency”
 Essential constituent of nucleic acid, phytin and phospho-
lipids
 Involved in photosynthesis, respiration, cell division and
enlargement
 Promotes early root formation and growth
 Improves quality of fruits, vegetables, and grains
 Vital to seed formation
 Excess of P can cause deficiency of certain micro-nutrient
like Zn and Fe

14. Deficiency symptoms :
 Deficiency symptoms are appears first on older leaves
 Deficiency imparts dark green colour in leaves
 Bronzing or red purple coloration on leaves due to
synthesis of anthocyanin
 development of lateral buds is suppressed

15. POTASSIUM
 Most essential function of potassium is stomata
regulation
 Increases water-use efficiency
 Provides disease resistance
 Formation and translocation of sugars
 Increases photosynthesis
 Activates enzymes and controls their reaction rates
 Improves quality of seeds and fruit
 Improves winter hardiness
 In plants K+ also reduced the transpiration rate and
increase photosynthetic rate

16. Deficiency symptoms :
 Scorching or burning of margins of older leaves
 Weakning of straw in grain crops
 reduction in turgidity of cells
 Spots of dead tissues at tips
 Keeping quality of fruits and vegetables is
reduced

17. CALCIUM
 Constituent of cell wall (as Ca-pectate)
 Helps to maintain membrane permeability and stability
 Retards abscission and senescence of leaves
 Important for growth of meristems and functioning of
root tips
 Neutralizes the charge on acidic molecules of
phosphoric acid and other organic acids i.e. citric acid,
malic acid, oxalic acid which are injurious to plant
growth

18.  Plays a important role in germination and growth of
pollens
 Increase nodulation in legumes
 Required for cell division and cell elongation

19. Deficiency symptoms :
 Deficiency symptoms first appear on younger leaves.
 Its deficiency is manifested by failure of terminal buds
and apical roots to develop. Thus the growth of plant
ceases.
 Deficiency of Ca leads to-
 Tip burn of cabbage, cauliflower
 Black heart of celery
 Blossom end rot of tomato and ber
 Bitter pit of apple

20. Blossom end rot of Tomato Bitter pit of Apple

21. MAGNESIUM
Key element of chlorophyll production
Improves utilization and mobility of phosphorus
Activator and component of many plant enzymes
Directly related to grass tetany
Increases iron utilization in plants
Influences earliness and uniformity of maturity
Required for the reaction involving phosphate
transfer from ATP.

22. Deficiency symptoms :
 May occur on acid soils, sandy soils or soils with high
K levels.
 Deficiency symptoms first appear on older leaves.
 Deficiency symptoms manifests themselves in terms
of interveinal chlorosis.
 Grass tetany is a nutritional disorder common in
cattles grazing on Mg-deficient pastures. Cattle
consume low Mg forages may suffer from
hypomagnesaemia, which is abnormally low level of
blood Mg.
 Sand drawn disease in tobacco

24. SULPHUR
 Required for S containing amino acids i.e. Cysteine,
Cystine, Methionine
 S is required for the synthesis of volatile compounds
responsible for characteristic taste and smell in plants of
mustard and onions.
 Pungency in onion: due to Allyl propyl disulphide
Pungency in mustard oil: due to Allyl isocyanates
 Improves the oil quality of oilseeds crops
 Improves the baking quality in cereals grains
 Necessary in chlorophyll formation (though it isn’t one of
the constituents)

25. Deficiency symptoms :
 First appears on younger growths as it is immobile in
plants.
 Fading of normal green colour in young leaves,
followed by chlorosis is the most common deficiency
symptom.
 Older leaves become puckered with inward raised
areas between the veins.
 In brassicas, which are most susceptible to S-
deficiency, the leaves are narrow, show cupping
(curling of leaf margins) and arresting the growing
points.

26. Fig: Deficiency symptoms of N, P and K

27. MICRONUTRIENTS
The micronutrients are boron, chlorine, copper,
iron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc and nickel.
These plant food elements are used in very
small amounts, but they are just as important to
plant development and profitable crop
production as the major nutrients. Especially,
they work "behind the scene" as activators of
many plant functions.

28. BORON
Boron is the only non-metal element among the
micro nutrients
Essential of germination of pollen grains and
growth of pollen tubes
Necessary for sugar translocation
Essential for seed and cell wall formation
Promotes maturity
Taste in cauliflower is due to presence of boron

29. Deficiency symptoms :
 Browning of cauliflower
 Top sickness of tobacco
 Fruit crcking in tomato
 Hard fruit of citrus
 Hen and chicken disease of grapes
 Hollow stem of cauliflower

30. CHLORINE
 Plays a important role in osmo-regulation
 Chlorine in abundance supress the plant diseases
 Regulate the turgor potential of leaves
 Co-factor in Mn containing water splitting enzymes
photosystem II

31. COPPER
Component of plastocyanin
Catalyzes several plant processes (i.e.
desaturation and hydrolysis of fatty acid)
Essential for photosynthesis
Enhances the fertility of male flowers
Imparts disease resistant to plants
Improves flavour of fruits and vegetables

32. Deficiency symptoms :
 Sterility of male flowers
 Chlorosis of younger shoot tissues, necrosis and leaf
distortion are the characteristic deficiency symptoms
 Reclamation disease of citrus
 Die back of citrus
 Gummosis and xanthomenia disease of citrus

33. IRON
Promotes synthesis of chlorophyll
Acts as an oxygen carrier
(leghaemoglobin)
Reactions involving cell division and
growth
Acts as an enzyme activator

35. Deficiency symptoms :
 Complete interveinal chlorosis
 Scorching of leaf margins
 Growth of plant is poor, dry matter accumulation
is adversely affected.

36. MAGANESE
Functions as a part of certain enzyme
systems
Aids in chlorophyll synthesis
Increases the availability of P and C
Required for maintenance of
chloroplast structure

37. Deficiency symptoms :
 More severe on middle leaves than on younger leaves
 On dicot plants interveinal chlorosis and on monocot
plants greenish grey spots and stripes on basal leaves
 Deficiency of Mn leads to-
 Pahala blight of sugarcane
 Grey specks of oats
 Marsh spots of peas
 Speckled yellow of sugarbeet
 Toxicity of Mn leads to Crinkle leaf of cotton.

38. MOLYBDENUM
 Required to form the enzyme "nitrate reductase"
which reduces nitrates to ammonium in plant
 Aids in the formation of legume nodules
 Needed to convert inorganic phosphates to organic
forms in the plant
 Mo is required for sweetness in carrot and raphanus
 Whiptail of cauliflower is due to deficiency of
Molybdenum

39. ZINC
 Zn is constituent of 3 enzymes i.e. carbonic anhydrase,
alcoholic dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase.
 Aids plant growth hormones and enzyme system
 Influence translocation and transport of P
 Important for synthesis of tryptophan, a component of
some proteins
 Necessary for chlorophyll production
 Aids in seed formation

40. Deficiency symptoms :
 First appears on younger leaves
 In many plants its deficiency produces a symptom
known as ‘Rossette’ in which the growth of main
shoot is drastically reduced while the secondary shoots
come up in large number.
 Deficiency of Zn leads to-
 Khaira disease of rice
 White bud of maize
 Little leaf of cotton

43. THE TABLE BELOW LISTS THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
AND THEIR UPTAKE FORMS:
Nutrient Uptake form
Carbon CO3
-2, H2CO3
Hydrogen H+, OH-
Oxygen OH-
Nitrogen NO3
-, NH4
+
Phosphorus HPO4
2- , H2PO4
-
Potassium K+
Chlorine Cl-

44. Nutrient Uptake form
Calcium Ca2+
Magnesium Mg2+
Sulfur SO4
2-
Boron H3BO3, H2BO3
-
Manganese Mn2+
Copper Cu2+
Zinc Zn2+
Molybdenum MoO4
2-
Iron Fe2+, Fe3+
Nickel Ni2+

45. MANURES
 Manures may be defined as materials which are
organic in origin, bulky and concentrated in nature
and capable of supplying plant nutrients and
improving soil physical environment having no
definite chemical composition with low analytical
value produced from animal, plant and other organic
wastes and by products.
 Organic manures are included well rotten farm yard
manure(FYM) compost, green manures, oil cakes etc.

46. Organic manures are of 2 types:
1) Bulky organic manures
2) Concentrated organic manures
1) Bulky organic manures : It is mainly derived from animal, plant
and other organic wastes and green plant tissues. They generally
contain less amount of plant nutrients as compared to COM.
Eg. FYM, compost (from farm
and town refuses etc.), green manures (eg. Dhaincha, glyricidia,
sunhemp, other leguminous crops etc.).
2) Concentrated organic manures : It is mainly derived from raw
materials of animal or plant origin. Concentrated organic manures
have higher nutrients than bulky organic manures.
Eg. Oil cakes, blood meal, meat meal,
bone meal etc.

47. FERTILIZERS
 Fertilizers may be defined as materials having definite
chemical composition with a higher analytical value
and capable of supplying plant nutrients in available
forms.
 Usually fertilizers are inorganic in nature.
Classification of fertilizers :
1) Straight fertilizers: May be defined as fertilizers
which contains only one major (primary) nutrient
element. Eg. Urea, ammonium sulphate
2) Binary fertilizer: Contains two major nutrients eg.
Potassium nitrate

48. 3) Ternary fertilizer: Contains three major nutrients eg.
Ammonium potassium sulphate
4) Compound/ complex fertilizers: This may be defined
as fertilizer material which contains more than one
major nutrients produced by the process of chemical
reactions. Eg. DAP, ammonium phosphate.
5) Mixed fertilizers: When straight fertilizers are blended
together physically to permit application in the field in
one operation, it is called as mixed fertilizers. Such
fertilizers supply two or three major nutrients in a
definite proportion (grade). Eg. Nitrophosphate with
potash 15:15:15, 12:32:16

49. 6) Complete fertilizer : Complete fertilizer is referred to
a fertilizer material which contains all three major
nutrients viz. N, P, K.
7) Incomplete fertilizer : Contains any two major
nutrients.
8) Low analysis fertilizers: Fertilizer having less than
25% of the primary nutrients eg. SSP (16% P2O5),
Sodium nitrate (16% N).
9) High analysis fertilizer : Fertilizers having more than
25% of the primary nutrients eg. Urea (46% N),
anhydrous ammonia (82%N) etc.

50.  There are 3 types of fertilizers:
1) Nitrogenous fertilizers : Eg. Urea (46% N), ammonium
nitrate (33% N), sodium nitrate (16% N), potassium
nitrate (13% N), ammonium sulphate (20.6% N),
calcium ammonium nitrate (26% N).
2) Phosphatic fertilizers: Eg. SSP (16% P2O5), DSP (32%
P2O5), TSP (48% P2O5), DAP (46% P2O5), Dicalcium
phosphate (33-40% P2O5), Basic slag (14-18% P2O5),
Rock phosphate (20-40% P2O5), Raw bone meal (20-
25% P2O5).
3) Potassic fertilizers: Eg. Muriate of potash (KCl) 60%
K2O, Sulphate of potash (K2SO4) 48% K2O, Potassium
nitrate 44% K2O.

51. BIOFERTILIZERS
 Biofertilizers are defined as preparations containing
live or latent cells of efficient strains of nitrogen
fixing, phosphate solubilizing or celluloytic micro
organisms used for application to seed, soil or
composting areas with the objectives of increase soil
fertility and help plant growth by increasing their
numbers and biological activities.
 Biofertilizers are of 3 types:
1) N-fixing biofertilizers
2) Phosphate solubilizing biofertilizers
3) Cellulolyte or organic matter decomposer

52. N fixing
biofertilizers
P solubilizing
biofertilizers
Biofertilizers
Organic matter
decomposers
For
legumes
Eg.
Rhizobium
For non
legumes
Eg.
Azotobacter,
azospirillum,
BGA,
Azolla
PO4
-3
solubilizer
Eg.
Bacillus,
Pseudomonas,
Aspergillus
PO4
-3
absorber
Eg.
VAM
Cellulolytic
organisms
Eg.
Cellulomonas,
Trichoderma
spore
Lignolytic
organisms
Eg.
Anthrobacter
Agaricus

53.  A simple form of classification of biofertilizers is given
below:
1) For Nitrogen
 Rhizobium for legume crops.
 Azotobacter l Azospirillum for non legume crops.
 Acetobacter for sugarcane only.
 Blue -Green Algae (BGA) and Azolla for low land paddy.
2) For Phosphorous
 Phosphatika for all crops to be applied with Rhizobium,
Azotobacter,
 VAM(Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza).
3) For Enriched Compost
 Cellulolytic fungal culture.
 Phosphotika and Azotobacter culture

54.  The fertilizer preparation with Rhizobium culture is
known as “Nitrogin” and the bacterial fertilizer
Azotobacter Chroococcum is known as
“Azotobacterin”.
 In addition to nitrogen economy in soils, several soil
bacteria like Pseudomonas and Bacillus and fungi like
Penicillium and Aspergillus have the ability to bring
insoluble phosphates in soil into soluble forms by
secreting various organic acids viz. formic, acetic etc.
These acids lower the pH and bring the dissolution of
bound forms of phosphates.
 Cultures of both Azotobacter and Azospirillum are
used for non-leguminous crops for the nutrition of
nitrogen.

55.  Culture of blue green bacteria (cyanobacteria) and
Azolla are used for the low land rice cultivation as
algal bio-fertilizers. The application of soil based algal
mixed culture @10-15 kg/ha is generally
recommended for rice.
 Azolla can also be used as a bio-fertilizer and some
important species are Azolla pinnata, A. mexicana, A.
carolinian and A. microphylla of which Azolla pinnata
is the most common in India.
 The application of 10t/ha fresh azolla is as efficient as
basal application of 25-30 kg N/ha.