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atchia
TRANSPORT IN PLANT
1 Dr Shakeel Atchia
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Candidates should be able to:
Uptake and transport of water and ions
1 Relate the structure of root hair cells to their function of water and ion
uptake
2 Outline the pathway taken by water through the root, stem and leaf,
limited to: root hair cells, root cortex cells, xylem and mesophyll cells 3

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Investigate, using a suitable stain, the pathway of water in a cut stem
Transpiration and translocation
1 Describe transpiration as the loss of water vapour from leaves
2 Understand that water evaporates from the surfaces of the mesophyll
cells into air spaces and then diffuses out of the leaves through the
stomata as water vapour
3 Explain:
(a) the effects of wind speed, and the variation of temperature, humidity
and light intensity on transpiration rate
(b) how wilting occurs 2
 4 Investigate the effects of wind speed, light intensity
and temperature variation on transpiration rate
 5 Explain the mechanism by which water moves
upwards in the xylem in terms of a transpiration pull
that draws up a column of water molecules, held
together by forces of attraction between water
molecules
 6 Describe translocation as the movement of sucrose

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and amino acids in the phloem from parts of plants
that produce or release them (sources) to parts of
plants that use or store them (sinks)
 7 Identify the positions of tissues as seen in
transverse sections of non-woody dicotyledonous roots
and stems, limited to: xylem, phloem and cortex
 8 State the functions of xylem as transport of water
and mineral ions, and support
 9 Relate the structure of xylem vessels to their
function, limited to: (a) thick walls with lignin (details
of lignification are not required) (b) no cell contents
(c) cells joined end-to-end with no cross walls to form 3
a long continuous tube
IMPORTANCE OF A TRANSPORT SYSTEM
 Exchange of substances between cells by diffusion & osmosis
and the active transport, due to short distances, is rapid and
efficient especially in unicellular organisms
 However, in large and more complex organisms, cells may be
too widely separated from each other and their external

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environments for processes such as osmosis, diffusion and
active transport to be adequate. Thus specialized long
distances transport systems which move substances more
rapidly is needed
 Generally this is done by Mass Flow System which is the
bulk transport of materials from one point to another as a
result of a pressure difference between 2 points.

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 Specialised
transport system

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Animal:
Plant: Circulatory
Vascular Systems System
consisting of
vascular bundles

Blood
Lymphatic
circulatory
system
system
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EXAMPLES OF MASS FLOW SYSTEM
OCCURRING IN PLANTS:

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1. Movement of water and mineral salts
through xylem
2. Movement of assimilate through
Phloem

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EXAMPLES OF MASS FLOW SYSTEM
OCCURRING IN ANIMALS:

1. Alimentary system ( transport of food

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and water )
2. Breathing ( air + water vapour)
3. Blood vascular system (blood)
4. Lymphatic system ( lymph)

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TRANSPORT IN PLANT

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 Uptake Transport Elimination

Water Osmosis in Mass flow in xylem Diffusion through

the root stomata and also
small losses through
lenticels and cuticle

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Solutes Diffusion or Mass flow through Shedding of leaves
active xylem(mainly ,bark, fruits , seeds
transport inorganic solutes) Or retained until
into root or phloem (mainly death or passed on
organic solutes) to then next
generation of seeds

Gases Diffusion Diffusion through Diffusion through

through intercellular the stomata ,
stomata spaces and lenticels and 9
lenticels and through cells epidermis
epidermis
ROOT STRUCTURE (TS DICOT)

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STRUCTURE OF STEM (TS DICOT)

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LEAF STRUCTURE (TS DICOT)

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XYLEM AND PHLOEM
 Xylem is responsible for carrying water from the root
to all parts of the plant. Xylem is made up of several
types of cell but, those known as “vessels” do most of

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the water transporting.
 Vessels are dead cells, the walls of which are made up
of lignin.
 Phloem tissue translocates (or transports) sugars
and other substances around the plant. Phloem,
unlike xylem is made up of living cells called sieve
tubes.
 However, these cells are strange in that they do not
have a nucleus. They have a nucleated companion
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cell, which might control their activity.
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TRANSPORT OF WATER

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https://youtu.be/x-RXyzXP7lI
https://youtu.be/zLFoN2mVQh0

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TRANSPORT OF WATER IN FLOWERING PLANTS

 Vast amounts of water pass through plants.

 Only 1% of this water is used by the plant cells for
photosynthesis and turgor, and the remaining 99%

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evaporates from the leaves and is lost to the atmosphere.
This evaporation from leaves is called transpiration.

This can be sub divided into :

 Movement of water through the roots

 Movement of water up the xylem through stem

 Movement of water in the leaves

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water transport
through a plant
 MOVEMENT OF WATER THROUGH THE ROOTS
 Water is absorbed mainly , but not exclusively , by younger
parts of the root in the regions of root hairs
 Root hairs greatly increase the available surface area for
uptake of water and mineral salts

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MOVEMENT OF WATER UP THE PLANT THROUGH STEM
 The xylem vessels form continuous pipes from the
roots to the leaves.
 Since the xylem vessels are dead and open tubes, no
osmosis can occur within them. In addition, a high
pressure is needed for water to move up plants.

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 Water can move up xylem at a rate of 8m h-1, and
can reach a height of over 100m.
 Therefore the driving force for the movement of
water cannot be osmosis.
 Infact, water moves up xylem due to 3 driving
forces, namely:
1. Root pressure
2. Capillarity 22

3. Transpiration pull
 ROOT PRESSURE
 The soil solution is normally very dilute
and hence has a very high water
potential than the solutions in the Root
hair cells.

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 Therefore water enters the Root hair cells
by osmosis increasing their water
potential.
 Hence water moves from cells to cells due
to water potential gradient.
 The uptake of water by osmosis actually
produces a force that pushes water up the
xylem. This force is called root pressure.
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 ACTIVITY TO SHOW ROOT PRESSURE:
 Root pressure can be measured by placing a manometer
over a cut stem, and is of the order of 100 kPa (about 1
atmosphere). This helps to push the water a few
centimetres up short and young stems, but is nowhere

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near enough pressure to force water up a long stem or a
tree.
 Cut the stem of a plant near the roots. This root
pressure causes water to be excluded from the cut
stump. This process involves the pumping of ions into
the xylem by decreasing water potential and thus
causes water to move into the xylem as it is halted in
the presence of metabolic poison(like arsenic)

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CAPILLARITY

 This force may cause water to move up about 3m

in xylem which is due to the small diameter of
the xylem vessel and also because water rises in

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fine tubes due to its high surface tension

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TRANSPIRATION PULL

 The transpiration of water from the leaves draw

water across the leaf. This water is replaced by
that entering the mesophyll cell from xylem by

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osmosis. As the water molecules leave the xylem
cells in the leaves, they pull up other water
molecules by cohesion (water molecules stick
together). This pulling effect is known as
transpiration pull
 Transpiration causes low pressure in the leaves,
so water is sucked up the stem to replace the lost
water.
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TRANSPIRATION
 Transpiration is the loss of water vapour mainly
through stomata of the aerial part of the plant.
 Water leaves plant as water vapour

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 The exchange from liquid to vapour state requires
energy which is provided by the sun.

 Transpiration may occur from the following 3 sites:

 Stomata(approx 90% )
 Cuticle (approx 10%)
 Lenticels ( small sites in stems and bark of trees for
gas exchange (minute proportions)
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MOVEMENT THROUGH THE LEAVES

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 The xylem vessels ramify in the leaves to form a
branching system of fine vessels called leaf veins.
 Water moves from the xylem vessels into the veins
through the adjacent cells down its water potential
gradient.
 Then water evaporates from the spongy cells into the

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sub-stomatal air space, and diffuses out through the
stomata.
 Water vapour diffuse into layers of still air which is
blown away by air maintaining the potential gradient.
 Evaporation is endothermic and is driven by solar
energy, which is therefore the ultimate source of energy
for all the water movements in plants.
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OPENING OF STOMATA
 Guard cells open
when water moves
into cells by osmosis
(i.e. cells are turgid)
POTOMETER

 The rate of transpiration can be measured in the

lab using a potometer (“drinking meter”):

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 A potometer actually measures the rate of water uptake
by the cut stem, not the rate of transpiration;
 And these two are not always the same, because water
taken up is used by plant cells as raw materials of
photosynthesis and to maintain turgidity of cells.
 During the day plants often transpire more water than

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they take up (i.e. they lose water and may wilt), and
during the night plants may take up more water than
they transpire (i.e. they store water and become turgid)
 The difference can be important for a large tree, but for
a small shoot in a potometer the difference is usually
trivial and can be ignored.
 Therefore potometer can be used to measure
transpiration rate only with the following assumption:
 Rate of water uptake = rate of water loss
 The potometer can be used to investigate how various
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environmental factors affect the rate of transpiration
FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSPIRATION RATE
External factors (Environmental)
1. Humidity - when external air has high humidity
(Vapour pressure) the gradient is reduced and
therefore less water is transpired. Low humidity

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increases transpiration rate
2. Temperature – change in temperature affects
kinetic movement of water molecules and the
relative humidity of air. That is a rise in
temperature increases kinetic energy and also
increases rate of evaporation of water and its
also lowers the relative humidity of air thus
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increasing transpiration rate
3. Wind Speed - In the absence of air movement water
vapour which diffuses from stomata accumulates
near the leaf surface and reduces water potential
gradient between the stomatal chamber and the
atmosphere and this reduces transpiration rate. But
an in increase in air movement that is a wind blows

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away the layer of still air , increases the water
potential gradient and therefore transpiration rate
increases
4. Light - Stomata of most plants open in light and
close in the dark. But an increase in light intensity
increases the transpiration rate
5. Water availability – A decrease in availability in
water reduces water potential gradient thus rate of
transpiration decreases
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Internal factors
1. Leaf Area – The greater the total area of the leaf
of a plant , the greater the rate of transpiration
regardless of the number of stomata
2. Cuticle - The thicker the waxy cuticle the lower
the transpiration rate

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3. Density of stomata – the greater the number of
stomata for a given area, the higher the
transpiration rate
4. Distribution of stomata – In moist dicotyledonous
plants, the leaves are positioned with their upper
leaves towards the light thus cuticular transport
is higher at the upper surface. Many plants limit 35
their stomata to the lower surface(e.g. apple ,oak )
TRANSLOCATION OF ASSIMILATE
 Translocation as the movement of sucrose and
amino acids in the phloem from parts of plants
that produce or release them (sources) to parts of

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plants that use or store them (sinks)

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 Assimilate is transported through phloem
 The phloem contains a very concentrated solution of
dissolved solutes, mainly sucrose (but also other sugars),
certain mineral elements in various forms (for e.g, nitrogen
and sulphur in the form of amino acid. , potassium in the
form of phosphate ions and sugar phosphates and
potassium ions) and small amounts of vitamins, growth

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substances (e.g auxins and gibberellins), viruses and other
compounds.
 This solution is called the phloem sap

 90 % of total solute carried in phloem is sucrose as the

latter is:
1. Inactive
2. Highly soluble
3. Plays little role in metabolism
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4. Once it reaches its destination it is converted back to
more active monosaccharide like glucose and fructose
 Unlike the water in the xylem, the
contents of the phloem can move both up
or down a plant stem, often
simultaneously. It helps to identify
where the sugar is being transported
from (the source), and where to (the
sink).

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 During the summer sugar is mostly
transported from the leaves, where it is
made by photosynthesis (the source) to
the roots, where it is stored (the sink).
 During the spring, sugar is often
transported from the underground root
store (the source) to the growing leaf
buds (the sink).
 Flowers and young buds are not
photosynthetic, so sugars can also be
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transported from leaves or roots (the
source) to flowers or buds (sinks).
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THE END

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