Methods of Studying Plant Nutrients

 The methods for the study of mineral nutrition of plant are :

Plant analysis, Solution cultures (Hydroponics or chemical gardening), and Sand culture.

Hydroponics

The system of growing plants in soil-less cultures or solution cultures is known as Hydroponics.

This has certain advantages over geoponics (Soil culture or agriculture ) Such as :

a. A controlled composition of the nutrient solution may be provided.

b. There is no immobilization of nutrients as there are no colloids for nutrient adsorption

c. It prevents the accumulation of toxic organic decomposition products due to frequent replacement of

culture solution.

d. Minimized growth of fungi and bacteria.

e. It ensures a better environment for plant growth as the culture solution is kept aerated.

f. There is no weed growth.

g. Natural calamities such as flood, drought, erosion, etc. can be avoided.

In India, hydroponic culture practices have been widely adopted. Tomatoes are grown through this

the system in West Bengal yielded an average of over 200 tons per acre as against 15-20 tons under ordinary

soil culture. Similarly, paddy grown by this yielded 11,400 kg/ha and potatoes up to 135 tons/ha. A

Hydroponic Information Centre has also been set up in Bombay (Post Box No.31) to provide detailed information

on hydroponics.

Aeroponics

It is a system for growing plants with their roots supplied with moisture in the air. The rooted plants

are placed in a special type of box with their shoots exposed to air and roots inside the box with a computer-controlled humid atmosphere. Plants like Citrus and olive have been successfully grown through this method.

Nutrient Availability in Soil and Mechanism of uptake by plants