Food Storage

Food storage
Storage organs in plants

A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified to store energy (e.g.
carbohydrates) or water. They are usually found underground (for protection from herbivores)
and result from changes to roots, leaves or stems.
Parts of the plant that store food:
1) True roots- examples tuberous root, taproot
2) Modified stems- examples: corm, tuber, rhizome, succulent stems
3) Modified leaves- examples: bulb, succulent leaves, leaf petioles (celery)
4) Seeds- examples: Cotyledons, endosperm
5) Fruits- examples: orange, apples
6) Bulbs- example: onion
Foods stored in roots
Root vegetables are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of
carbohydrates. They usually grow underground as protection from plant-eating animals. The
whole energy of the plant is concentrated upon food manufacture in the leaves. The
manufactured food, in soluble form, is then carried down the stem through the tissue known as
bast, or phloem, and so reaches the root for storage.
Figure I: Food that store food in roots
Figure II: Carrots
Examples of storage organs include:
- Bulbs- Modified leaf bases (found as underground vertical shoots) that contain layers
called scales (e.g. onions)
- Storage Roots -Modified roots that store water or food in an enlarged central stele (e.g.
carrots)
- Tubers - Horizontal underground stems that store carbohydrates (e.g. potatoes)
Food storage in stems

The stem is the main stalk of a plant. Different plants store different amounts in their stems.
Annuals tend to store less food, while biennials store more food because they require two
growing seasons to complete a life cycle. Typical stems are located above ground, but there are
modified stems that can be found either above or below ground.
Figure III: modified stems that store food
Food storage in leaves

There are certain plants food is stored in the leaves for which they are modified in different
ways. They usually become thick and fleshy. In onion, the bulbs are made up of bases of fleshy
leaves, which are arranged in a concentric manner around the apical bud of shoot. The normal
green leaves are aerial and thick cylindrical.
Figure IV: onion bulbs that store food in modified leaves
Food storage in seeds

Food is stored in seeds to allow germination to occur. The seed have all the nutrients needed for
the plant to grow until it gets large enough to start making its own food from photosynthesis.
Figure V: seeds that store food
Food storage in fruits

The word “fruit” means the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet or sour,
and edible in the raw state. Plants store food in fruits and they are usually juicy. A fruit is a
mature ovary and its associated parts. Fruits are important sources of dietary fibre, vitamins
(especially vitamin C), and antioxidants.
Figure VI: fruits that store food.
Importance of food storage in plants

Plants store food for lots of different reasons. Stored food helps them to survive, grow and
reproduce. We are lucky that they do so because if they didn’t do so everything living would die.
The reason for this is that the main food resource for later use.
Storing the food helps them to use it in winter and survive because there is very little sunlight
available and so they photosynthesize less. For example, carrots store food in its roots and live
on it all winter and in summers a new plant grows from these roots.
Food is also stored in plants to provide all the nutrients for growth of an embryo until the embryo
develops into a plant and can make its own food from photosynthesis.
Importance of food storage in animals
One particular method of storing food is the only means available to most animals. Eat the food
whenever it is available, and store it as fat inside the body, which is safe in the adipose tissues.
For many animals finding continuous food supply is very difficult, so storing enough nutrients
and energy inside their body is essential. And for the animals that hibernate in long winter when
no food is available, eating fat in autumn is the only way to survive from year to year.
Like squirrels, beavers fatten up in the fall in preparation for winter, and the extra fat helps
insulate them from the cold. And they also store food away for winter, when their usual food
sources are scarce. Their bodies have some special adaptations that help them endure the coldest
part of the year.
Beaver
We and animals store our reserve energy as fats. Our adipose (fat) tissues are located in different
part of our body as stomach, arms legs, etc. A little bit of energy is stored as glycogen, present in
our muscle cells and liver, but that is only enough to keep us going for a few hours as any runner
or cyclist knows. The long-term energy storage compound is fat.
References
1) Esau, K. 1977. Anatomy of seed plants. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
2) Oberlander, K. C.; Emshwiller, E.; Bellstedt, D.U. & Dreyer, L.L. (2009). “A model of
bulb evolution in the eudicot genus Oxalis (Oxalidaceae)”. Molecular Phylogenetics &
Evolution. 51 (1): 54-63.
3) Watson, R. R., and Preedy, V.R. (2010, eds.). Bioactive Foods in Promoting Health:
Fruits and Vegetables. Academic Press.

Food Storage

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Food storage

Storage organs in plants

Figure II: Carrots

Examples of storage organs include:

Food storage in stems

Figure III: modified stems that store food

Food storage in leaves

Figure IV: onion bulbs that store food in modified leaves

Food storage in seeds

Figure V: seeds that store food

Food storage in fruits

Figure VI: fruits that store food.

Importance of food storage in plants

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