Minerals in Plants

 

Element	Region of Plant where Required	Functions	Deficiency
boron	leaves and seeds	required for uptake of calcium, pollen germination and cell differentiation	brown heart disease
calcium	meristematic tissues; buds; leaves, root tips	selective permeability of cell membranes; activates certain enzymes; development of stem and root apex; building of middle lamella of cell wall	stunted growth
chlorine		determine solute concentration; essential for oxygen evolution in photosynthesis
copper	everywhere	activates certain enzymes	death of shoots
iron	everywhere; collects along leaf veins	makes ferredoxin and cytochromes; activates catalase; synthesis of chlorophyll	chlorosis; reduced growth
magnesium	leaves	activates enzymes in phosphate metabolism; constituent of chlorophyll	chlorosis; yellowing of leaves
manganese	leaves and seeds	activates certain enzymes like carboxylases	chlorosis; grey spots on leaves
molybdenum	everywhere particularly roots	helps in nitrogen metabolism	reduced growth
nitrogen	everywhere	makes protein nucleic acids, vitamin, hormones, coenzymes, ATP, chlorophyll	stunted growth; chlorosis
phosphorus	everywhere specially in meristematic tissues	constituent of cell membrane, certain proteins; all nucleic acids and nucleotides	stunted growth; leaves become dull green
potassium	younger tissues, metabolically less active cells	determine anion-cation balance in cells; protein synthesis; formation of cell membrane; opening and closing of stomata; increases hardness; turgidity of cells; activates enzymes	yellow edges of leaves; premature death
sulphur	stem and root tips; young leaves	constituent of certain proteins, vitamins and ferredoxin	chlorosis; woody stems
zinc	everywhere	activates carboxylases, various dehydrogenases; needed for auxin synthesis	reduced fruit and flower; malformed leaves