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- Plants that do not have chlorophyll cannot synthesize their own food.
- They depend on the food produced by other plants.
- They use the heterotrophic mode of nutrition in plant.
- Cuscuta (Amarbel) does not have chlorophyll.
- It takes ready-made food from the plant on which it is climbing.
- The plant on which it climbs is called the host.
- Since it deprives the host of valuable nutrients, Cuscuta is called the parasite.
- A few plants can trap insects and digest them. One example is the pitcher plant.
- The pitcher-like or jug-like structure is the modified part of the leaf.
- The apex of the leaf forms a lid which can open and close the mouth of the pitcher.
- Inside the pitcher there is hair.
- When an insect lands in the pitcher, the lid closes and the trapped insect gets entangled into the hair.
- The lid closes and the insect is trapped.
- The insect is digested by the digestive juices secreted in the pitcher and its nutrients are absorbed.
- Such insect-eating plants are called insectivorous plants.
Cuscuta (Amarbel) on host plant
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Saprotrophs
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- Fungi have a different mode of nutrition in plant.
- They absorb the nutrients from dead and decaying matter.
- This mode of nutrition in plant is called saprotrophic nutrition.
- Such organisms with saprotrophic mode of nutrition in plants are called saprotrophs.
- Fungi also grow on pickles, leather, clothes and other articles that are left in hot and humid weather for a long time.
Packet of mushrooms, a mushroom growing on decayed material.
 Pitcher plant showing lid and pitcher
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Nurturing Bonds: Symbiotic Relationships in Nutrition in Plant
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- Some organisms live together and share both shelter and nutrients.
- This relationship is called symbiosis.
- For example, certain fungi live inside the roots of plants.
- The plants provide nutrients to the fungus and, in return, the fungus provides water and certain nutrients.
- In lichens, a chlorophyll-containing partner, which is an alga, and a fungus live together.
- The fungus provides shelter, water and minerals to the alga and, in return, the alga prepares and provides food to the fungus.
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Boosting Soil Health: How Plants and Bacteria Work Together for Better Nutrition in plants
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- The amount of minerals and nutrients from the soil decline as plants absorb these from the soil.
- These nutrients need to be added from time to time to enrich the soil.
- Farmers add fertilizers to replenish the soil with lacking nutrients.
- Crop plants also absorb a lot of nitrogen and the soil becomes deficient in nitrogen.
- They need nitrogen in a soluble form.
- The bacterium called rhizobium can take atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into a usable form.
- But Rhizobium cannot make its own food.
- So it often lives in the roots of gram, peas, moong, beans and other legumes and provides them with nitrogen.
- In return, the plants provide food and shelter to the bacteria.
- Rhizobium and leguminous plants have a symbiotic relationship.
- This association is of great significance for the farmers.
- They can reduce the use of nitrogenous fertilizers where leguminous plants are grown.
- Most of the pulses (dals) are obtained from leguminous plants.
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