Plant mineral nutrition

Article By:

Mattson, Neil S. Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Last reviewed:July 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.523500

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• Plant mineral nutrition, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

The collective processes involved in plant assimilation and metabolism of all chemical elements, with the exception of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Plants obtain most of their mineral nutrients by extracting them from solution in the soil or the aquatic environment. Mineral nutrients are so named because they are primarily derived from the weathering of minerals of the Earth's crust, with the exception of nitrogen, which is primarily derived from atmospheric nitrogen. In addition, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are typically excluded from the discussion of plant mineral nutrition because they are assimilated from the atmosphere and from water. Taken together, these nutrient elements are critical for the processes of plant growth (Fig. 1) and hence are key to the capturing of solar energy for photosynthesis, which is the basis of nearly all life on Earth. See also: Mineral; Nutrition; Photosynthesis; Physiological ecology (plant); Plant; Plant growth; Plant metabolism; Plant physiology

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