Mineral Nutrition

Besides water and gases, plants absorb minerals and nutrients from their surroundings. Green plants need a range of inorganic substances -- obtained from the soil as minerals -- to synthesise their organic food; chemical analysis of plant ash confirms that plants take up mineral elements from soil, air and water for this purpose. Roughly 36 to 40 different elements of the periodic table are used by plants as minerals, and they are absorbed in ionic (dissolved) form -- for example as PO4, CO3 or SO4 ions -- usually through the root, in the regions of elongation and growth. …