Transport of Nutrients in Plants

Book excerpt: Transport of Nutrients in Plants provides the study of nutrient movement in plants. The greater part of this book deals with the physiology and cytology of phloem. The first chapter of the text deals with studies on the definition of the cellular pathways of transport. Chapter 2 considers how the mobility of solutes can be measured and the range of chemical species which are moved in xylem and phloem. The next chapter discusses the concepts of velocity and rate. The rest of the book is devoted to the characteristics of phloem transport and the ultrastructure of sieve elements, including such topics as the control of movement, solute-loading and -unloading mechanisms, the dependence of transport upon metabolic energy, bidirectional movement and water movement in phloem. Finally an account is given of the movement of endogenous growth regulators and a brief assessment of 'hormone-directed' transport. Botanists will find the book very interesting and informative.