How are the minerals absorbed by the plants?
Plants absorb minerals from the soil through hair roots in form of ions. The process takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the minerals are transferred rapidly into the outer spaces of the plant cells also known as apoplast. The free outer spaces of plant include the intercellular spaces and the cell wall. This process is passive in nature as it does not require the consumption of energy. It takes place through the trans-membrane proteins of the cell or the ion channels. The second phase is active in nature as it requires consumption of energy in the form of ATP. In this phase, the nutrients are transported into the inner spaces or the symplast of the cell in a comparatively slow speed. This is also called metabolic phase of mineral absorption. The mineral ions diffuse into the cell cytoplasm and vacuoles by this process of mineral absorption. In my opinion, the overall process is the sum total of both these steps and thus we can say that transportationof minerals occur through roots into apoplast and symplast.
