Co-ordination in Plants

Plant growth substances

• These are chemicals that affect the activities of particular cells and organs.
(chemicals that influences plant growth)

Tropism
• A response by a plant part towards or away from a stimulus.
E.g. light, gravity, water, touch, chemicals.
“a stimulus is a change in the environmental condition”

Gravitropism / Geotropism
• Is a response in which a part of a plant grow towards or away from gravity.

Phototropism
• Is a response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away from the
direction from which light is coming.
 Plant growth substances
• Auxins are plant growth substances, which control
responses in plants.
• Auxins are made by the cells at the tip of the
shoots and roots, and diffuse to the nearby cells
where they cause differential growth.
“differential growth means one side grows/behave differently from
the other”
 Gravitropism / Geotropism
• The growth response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away
from gravity.

Positive and Negative Gravitropism

• Plant roots grow down towards Gravity, this is called Positive
gravitropism.
• plant shoots grow upwards away from gravity, this is Negative
gravitropism.
 Phototropism
• The growth response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away
from the direction from which light is coming

Positive and Negative phototropism

• plant shoots grow upwards towards light, this is called
Positive phototropism.
• Plant roots grow down away from light, this is called negative
phototropism.
 Chemical control of plant growth by Auxins
• In shoots, auxins stimulate(increase) growth rate.
- Meaning the part of the shoot that has a high concentration
of auxins grows fast and outgrow the part with less auxins.

• In roots, auxins inhibit(prevent) growth.

- Meaning the part of the root with high concentration of auxins

grows slowly and is outgrown by the part with more auxins.
 Chemical control of plant growth by Auxins
during germination
• When a seed is sown and start germinating, Auxins collects at the lower surface of the
Coleoptile(shoot) and Radicle(root) part inside the seed.
• In the coleoptile(shoot), the lower part is then stimulated to grow fast than the upper,
causing an upward growth of the shoot as it germinates.
• At the same time in the radicle(root), the lower part is inhibited from growing, so the
upper part outgrow the lower part and cause the radicle/roots to grow downward as
the plant germinates.
 Auxins regulated differential growth in
Gravitropism and phototropism
• Auxins collects on the shaded sided of the shoot, cells
on the shaded side of the root then grow & elongate
faster than the lighted side. Plant grow toward the
direction of light. This is differential growth in
Phototropism.
Plant grows
• Auxins also collects on the lower side of the root in straight
response to gravity, auxins then slow down the cell
growth on the lower side, the upper side grows faster
than the lower side & the roots grow down towards
gravity. This is differential growth in gravitropism

Plant grow towards light

“differential growth”
 Effects of synthetic plant growth substances
used as weed killers.
• Weed killers are herbicides that contain synthetic plant
hormones such as Auxins.
• These weed killers are sprayed onto weeds and cause rapid
uncontrolled growth that causes the weed to die.
• This weed killers are selective because they will only affect
some plants. E.g. most weeds are dicots(broad-leaved) and
when they grow among cereals, millets and Lawn. They are
sprayed with this weed killers.
• The weed killers will make the dicotyledonous weeds to
grow very fast and die, leaving the cereals/lawn unharmed.
• These weed killers can also be used to clear undergrowth in
tree plantations.