rate ahoWs an

lnerease ithat may be

Heometrteal
.. artthmeie growh,
((gure I6,4),
lo), (onty onedaughter following mltole eell
cell continues to divtde
le the other piant
dilerentlaten and matures, The
nlnplent exprennlon of
xempliled by aroot clongatngarthmetle growth In
al a constant rate,
the
ok at Flgure Ib.b, On plotting the aof
length of the Height
otgan agalnst (me, lnear curve In
Mathematlcally,i In exprened an obtatned.

1, - length at time '"

L, length at tme 'zero'
r -growth rate /elongatlon per unit
tlme.
Let us now see what haPpens in
geometrlcal.
growth. In most 8ystems, the Inltlal growth ls slow
(lag phase), and it increases rapldly thereafter -at Time
an exponentlalrate (log or
exponentlal phase). Here, Figure 16.5 Constant linear growth, a plot
both the progeny cells following mltotic cell division
retaln the ability to divide and continue to do so. of length L against time t
However., with lImlted nutrient supply, the growth
slows down leading to a stationary phase. If we
the plot
parameter of growth aganst time, we get a typlcal
slgmold or S-curve (Flgure 15.6). A slgmoid curve
Is a characterlstic of llving
organism
natural environment. It ls typlcal for all growing
in a
cells, organ
and organs of a plant. Can you thirk of more tissues
similar
Stationary phase
examples? What kind ofa curve can you expect ln the
Exponential
phase

atree showtng seasonal

The
actlvttles? of
exponential growth can be expressed as Size/weight
W, =W, ert
W, =final size (welght, height, number etc.)
W, = initilal stze at the beginning of the
period
growth rate
= time of growth
= base of natural Lag phase
logarithms Time
Here, r is the relative growth rate and is also the Figure 13.6 An ldeallsed slgnotd growth
measure of the ability of the plant to produce new curve typical of cells in
culture.
plant materlal, referred to as efflclency index. Hence, siand many htgher plants and
the flnal size of W, depends on the Initlal stze, W, plant organs