Plant Nutrition

Plant makes their own food through leaves through a process called Photosynthesis. Plants require a varied range of elements to grow. Of these elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are absorbed from the air and from water. While other minerals need to be fed to plants.

Minerals are classified in two categories as below. These vary plant to plant but are important for plant health. Deficiency and result into stunted growth, yellow leaves, poor flowering etc.

a) Macronutrients – Required in large quantities : Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), and Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Sulphur (S), Magnesium (Mg), Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), and Oxygen (O)

b)Micronutrients – Required in traces but deficiency will impact plant growth and health : Iron (Fe), Boron (B), Chlorine (Cl), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Nickel (Ni)

Plant nutrition (other than carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) is achieved through fertilization and Bio-stimulants. It can be through any medium – soil, water or air but is must to achieve plant growth and plant good health.

Fertilizers : broadly it is divided in three categories :

a. Chemical fertilizer : Artificial fertilizers manufactured in the industries. There are various fertilizers with single nutrient (Straight) , more than one nutrient (Complex) and Mixed (wherein two or more are mixed)

b. Biofertilizers are substances containing microbes, that enhance plant nutrition or increase nutrient availability in soils e.g. azospirillum, rhizobium, etc. Biofertilizers are primarily classified into two types: Bacterial biofertilizers and Fungal biofertilizers

c. Organic fertilizers are natural products to provide plant nutrients. They increase the organic matter in soil which in turn releases plant food in available form e.g. Cow dung, Vermicompost, Leaf compost etc.

Bio Stimulants -Bio-stimulants are compounds or products that include microorganisms, whose function when applied to plants/seeds/ rhizosphere is to enhance and regulate the crop’s physiological process to improve input use efficiency, growth, yield, quality, and stress tolerance. These bio-stimulants may include products of plants/ animals or microbial origin e.g. Seaweed, humic and fulvic acid.

Nutrition is very helpful for plants for their growth, flowering and fruiting. But at the same time, over nutrition is also harmful so have to first understand the requirements of plant. Leafy plants need fertilizer for growing new leaves and to maintain the greenery so nitrogen rich fertilizer is good for them. Flowering and fruiting plants need fertilizer to reproduce and for that roots have to be strong enough. So, they need compost and fertilizer (phosphorous and potassium rich) both frequently. Other nutrients like zinc, calcium, magnesium etc. and other micro nutrients are also important to make them strong enough to tolerate the changes in weather and also repotting shocks.