Question

A flowering plant is planted in an earthen pot and irrigated. Urea is added to make the plant grow faster, but after some time the plant dies. This may be due to

Answer 1

Hypertonic solution:

Adding urea to the soil of the plant makes the soil hypertonic. Hypertonic solution means the solute concentration of the solution outside is higher than the concentration of solutes inside the root cells. This reduces the water potential outside.

Exosmosis:

The water molecules move out from the cell sap (higher water potential) to the outside of the cell (lower water potential). This process is called exosmosis. Continuous exosmosis causes the cells to become plasmolysed and finally die.


Final answer: Plasmolysis