It’s just water that any living thing needs. Plants can use their whole-body weight in water. If human beings were to use the same amount of water, up to 20 gallons of fluid could be consumed daily. For a plant life, water is essential. Why plants need water? Well, to ensure that plants get the adequate amount of water along with the desired nutrients required for growth, the plant should perform its daily processes. The moisture required to adjust to their climate is maintained by each plant of its own system.
Why is water important for plant’s growth?
There are three possible water situations: too much, too little and only appropriate, of course.
- The roots will rot, and the soil of a plant cannot receive enough oxygen from the soil if it has too much water.
- If the plant does not have enough water, it cannot migrate through the plant with the nutrients it requires.
- A plant can’t grow if it has no healthy roots, so the right water balance is crucial in cultivating plants.
Function of water in plants:
Plants use water to remove minerals and nutrients from the root system soil and carry them into the stalks and leaves. Why plants need water? Following are some of the functions of water in plants,
Transpiration:
The exchange of water for carbon dioxide is important for transpiration. Pores absorb carbon dioxide in plant leaves and permit water to evaporate.
Solvent:
This water is the medium for dissolving biochemical reactants in cells and for chemical reactions. Both cell membranes and cell walls are water permeable, so that water can pass in the plant from one location to another.
Water forms a continuous liquid in the plant, fills the walls and the most intercellular part of the central vacuole of mature cells.
It provides support to plants:
Plants use a unique process which transfers water into their cells and out of them. Water enters and leaves the cells of the plant by means of a process called “osmosis” which fills the plant cells, firms them and provides the plant a structure. The key reason why flowers and plants do not gain enough water is osmosis.
It’s a source of food:
Water carries glucose or sugar around the plant after photosynthesis, where it is used to grow or store such as bulb or tuberous plants. Plants use sunlight to produce their nutrients. Water includes hydrogen, which is an essential part of the food sugars produced by plants. If the water supply decreases, the required feed items are deprived of the plant.
Helps in growth:
The vacuoles of newly formed cells are dispersed and tiny during cell division. Those little vacuoles will absorb and deposit minerals. This allows water to spread through the tiny vacuums and increases the pressure inside the cell. This pressure stretches the plastic walls of the young cells, which is cell growth. Eventually, the vacuoles coalesce into a central vacuole and the walls get so thick that the cell no longer spreads when mature, but retain water pressure inside the cell.
