Question

How is food transported in plants?

Answer 1

Transportation:

1. In all living organisms, transportation has a very crucial role in transporting various essential nutrients, water, etc. to various parts of the body.
2. In the case of plants, a term called translocation is used to describe the process of transportation of food to various parts of the plants from the leaves.

Phloem:

1. In the case of plants, the synthesized food is stored by various storage organs which include - stems, fruits, roots, etc.
2. The vascular tissue, phloem helps in the transportation of the synthesized food from the leaves to various storage organs.
3. Phloem is a complex permanent tissue that is present in all vascular plants.
4. Phloem consists of various elements - phloem parenchyma, phloem fibers, companion cells, and sieve tubes.
5. The transportation of food in plants through phloem is bidirectional i.e., in both upward and downward directions.
6. ATP is very essential for the process of translocation to occur.