jondamon
Well-Known Member
Hello All,
Like all good Noob's should (and i still class myself as a noob) i do countless hours of research, reading books and magazines dedicated to indoor growing. One of my favourite magazines is URBAN GARDEN MAGAZINE. In the latest issue that i have it talks about research into Carbs and Amino acid products.
The following information was copied directly out of URBAN GARDEN MAGAZINE issue 18 July/August 2010. The words are by STEVE BERLOW, FLORIGEN RESEARCH LABORATORIES.
"Whats the big deal with Carbohydrates and Amino Acid products these days?
Are they being used or misused by growers?
We asked Steve Berlow, a research consultant for florigen Research Laboratories, Canada to give us his insider perspective on the rise of carbohyrates and amino acid products in the market place in recent years..."
The hydroponics and indoor gardening industry is rapidly changing and evolving. Recently the pace of that change has become quite staggering with new products seeming to appear almost daily - nowhere is this more prominent than in the field of plant nutrition. In the last few years the hydroponic nutrient market has progressed from one offering base nutrients and some phosphorous flowering boosters to todays market where a stunning (some might say 'bewildering') array of new technologies and theories are promoted.
Two product types that have been causing a lot of chatter in the growing community are carbohydrate (sugar) supplements and amino acid based additives. And for good reason. Sugars and amino acids are both interesting concepts in the context of plant nutrition and many experts consider them to be on the cutting edge. all sounds pretty exciting doesnt it? But before you rush off and buy that fancy labelled bottle of sugary or amino acid goodness, you really should get your head around some basic facts concerning these substances and the ability of plants to make use of them.
CARBOHYDRATES - ARE THEY REALLY CANDY FOR YOUR PLANTS?
"You've probably heard the hydpe about carbs : - feed your plants supplemental carbs and turn them into Olympic gold Medal Winners!"
So a grower walks into their local shop, decides to buy a big bottle of some sugary carb supplement, with the intention of deploying it in his next res change. The notion is that the plants will suck up the carbs and get a boost of 'pure energy' without having to go through the relative hassle of producing them as a product of photosynthesis. Errrr, sorry to spoil the big carb party, but its not actually that straight forward. The carbohydrate supplement is definately a case of where theory got ahead of practice. In theory, providing your plants with an array of simple and complex carbohydrates seems like a great idea. We all know that plants, driven by light energy and photosynthesis, produce sugar and starch. The plant uses them for growth and development. So the theory goes: If we supplement our nutrient solution with those very same sugars and starches, then the plant wont have to make them all for itself and can therefore devote its energy to other things - such as making big flowers and fruits! Alternatively, if the plant is undergoing a period of physical stress (such as flowering or fruiting), then the supplementation of those sugars and starches will enable the plant to grow and develop at warp speed as we have removed a limiting factor. Unfortunately all this seems feasible in a text book but, as usual, these things are rarely as simple in real life.
So Why not? Well, put it simply, it's one thing to supplement a plant with carbs in a lab, quite another to do so in vivo (real life, real situation). You can inject carbs directly into a stem of a leaf, for instance, using laboratory techniques, but surely the crunch question is : can a plant uptake carbohydrates through its roots? I have been involved in research aimed to determine whether plants could actually uptake and utilise carbohydrates and, if so what could they uptake and utilise. Carbohydrates range in size from very small, simple structures like glucose or fructose through to enormously large, complex molecules like polysaccharides. So - did i find that plants could uptake simple and complex carbohydrates? Other than the some very simple, and small carbohydrates (e.g plain table sugar or fructose / glucose ) plants essentially CANNOT absorb other more complex carbohydrates through their root zone. Why? It's because of a unique littel barrier in the roots called the CASPARIAN STRIP - complete with his sidekick the ENDODERMIS. Essentially the casparian strip forces everything, and that includes carbohydrates, through the endodermis to be actively selected or rejected for uptake..
Ready for the science bit? Introducing the Casparian Strip - Your plants Very Own Homeland Security Officer!!!!
Inside the roots of your plants sits a very innocuous and extremely important band of cells - called the Casparian Strip. I like to think of this as a sort of "Security Guard" for your plant. It is used to block the passive flow of materials (travelling between cells), such as water and solutes, from entering into the main water carrying columns of the plant - the xylem and phloem. By doing this it forces everything to actively pass through or be rejected by the endodermis. Within the Epidermis, water passes through the cortex, mainly traveling between the cells. However, in order to enter the Stele, it must pass through cytoplasm of the cells of the Endodermis. Once within the stele, water is free to move between cells as a well as through them. For solutes to pass through the endodermis and be transported across to the stele they must be in Inorganic, ionic form. As you can see, getting water and nutrients inside your plant is no easy process.
An interesting side note for people who grow with organic Nutrients. When you hear of the virtues of organic fertilisers, remember that such materials are unable to meet any nutritional needs of the plant until they have been degraded / Converted into inorganic forms. Organic matter does play an important role in making good soil texture and rhizosphere health, but it can only meet the nutritional needs of the plant to the extent that it can yield inorganic ions. Once within the epidermis, only the inorganic ions pass inward from cell to cell.
AMINO ACID SUPPLEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTATION - POSSIBLE OR POSSIBILITIES?
Okay, after that bombshell, lets take a look at amino acids. These are fascinating little things, these miniature building blocks of protein - body builders love them and , according to many growers, plants do too. So what roles do amino acids play in plant nutrition?
There are a total of 21 amino acids used in the production of protein and you've probably seen most of them listed on the back of a bottle by now. They are known as proteinogenic amino acids.
The table above shows the 21 proteinogenic Amino Acids.
Every chemical reaction or process that goes on inside a plant relies on protein. From photosynthesis through to hormone production, growth and development, and stress - proteins are used by the plant for every aspect of its life, so (we can see that a similar phrase is in the beginning of the next paragraph, perhaps substitute: obviously) amino acids are very important in the big scheme of things
This importance has not escaped the attention of researchers and manufacturers of plant nutrients and additives. We are now seeing the emergence of quite a few products that contain these essential building blocks of life. One area being examined by both researchers and manufacturers are amino acids that are direct precursors to hormones. Tryptophan is one popular amino acid being researched s it is the direct precursor to indoleacetic acid (IAA) - a powerful growth hormone. Arginine is one of the precursors for cytokinins and is a major player in the production of flowers and fruits biochemical level. Other interesting roles for amino acids include their part of mitigating plant stress. Huge quantities of proline are produced by a plant during times of stress to assist with osmotic balance and to maintain a positive water status.
Amino acids are also used as a source of nitrogen in the root zone as a they are delaminated by the rhizosphere bacteria and fungi. The bacteria feed on the amino acids and in return nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, is released which can be absorbed by the plant. Ammonia is very rapidly absorbed and utilised by the plant and, in small quantities, is very benficial to the support of rapid growth and development. A new very exciting and emerging area of amino acid research, and one that i am very actively involved in, is the role played by accumulated amino acids. In plants, the roles of accumulated amino acids vary from acting as an osmolyte, to the regulation of ion transport, to modulating stomatal opening, and to the detoxification of heavy metals. Amino acids also effect the synthesis and activity of enzymes, and most excitingly of all play a major role in gene expression! So its readily apparant why plant nutrient manufacturers would be interested in the humble amino acid - they could be very useful to growers! As useful as they might be, amino acids are also commonly misunderstood - just like the carbohydrates we looked at earlier. ONce again theory is getting way infront of reality.
As with carbohydrates no one has really looked at whether plants can actively take up amino acids through their roots. A major focus of my research is examing how, or if plants can take up amino acids in this way. One method is to feed plants a solution of radioactively labelled amino acids and then take special x-rays of the whole plant 24hours later. You can actually visualise the extent of the amino acid uptake. In all of the experiments ive been involved in, almost none of the amino acid solution fed to the plants had been absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves. So whats at play here? Once again its the role of the Casparian strip and endodermis coming into action and excluding the uptake of almost all of the amino acid solution fed to the plants. Amino acid supplementation does work to a minor extent - as some, but very few, of those root fed amino acids are absorbed by the plant. The exciting phenomenon is that the tiny amount that does manage to get absorbed positively affects the growth and development of plants.
SO WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Only simple sugars are absorbed by the plant root system. And, only a very small amount of any amino acids supplied will ever be taken up by your plants root system. So what does that mean? Are carbohydrate and amino acid products a waste of time?
No Not exactly. Even when a small amount of amino acid is absorbed by the plant, we can get some positive effects. The simple sugars in carbohydrate products do get absorbed; other form a good source of food for beneficial bacteria in your root zone. So there are some benefits from using these types of products - just probably not to the degree that some of us may have hoped.
Feeding your plants carbohydrate and amino acid supplements is not a waste of your time or money; in fact many of those simple and complex carbohydrates serve as food for your friendly bacteria and fungi in your root zone. But dont forget that your plants roots constantly exude simple and complex, carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins into the rhizosphere and that those exudates already serve as food and growth promoting compounds for many of the beneficial bacteria, fungi and micro organisms present in your plants rhizosphere.
Root exudates are commonly devided into 2 classes. Low-molecular weight compounds such as amino acids, organic acids, sugars, and other secondary metabolites and high-molecular weight exudates such as : mucilage (polysaccharides or complex carbs) and proteins. The Rhizospheric bacteria and fungi return the favour, in a symbiotic relationship, by breaking down complex products in the rhizosphere into ionic forms the plant can absorb as well as excreting protein and secondary signalling molecules of their own that benefit the plant by increasing its rate of growth and development. In fact, much or all of the apparent success of carbohydrate and amino acids products are due to this inadvertent pwer feeding of your root zone friendlies and the symbiotic benefits they return to your plants.
THE FUTURE OF CARBOHYDRATES AND AMINO ACIDS?
Biochemists and plant researchers around the world are conducting research into mothods of delivering carbohydrates and or amino acids directly into the plant in large or precise controlled amounts. We are conducting research on developing radical new delivery methods for compounds that are otherwise impossible to deliver to plants in a controlled or effective manener. Techniques such as bio - and nano - encapsulation technologies are currently being pursued and developed - the promise of these techniques is huge. They could allow things like complex carbohydrates and amino acids to be delivered to your plants as they need them.
THE END.
Wow now that took some serious time to write out here for you all.....
I hope this has helped some of you understand more the Carbs and amino acid debate etc.
J
Like all good Noob's should (and i still class myself as a noob) i do countless hours of research, reading books and magazines dedicated to indoor growing. One of my favourite magazines is URBAN GARDEN MAGAZINE. In the latest issue that i have it talks about research into Carbs and Amino acid products.
The following information was copied directly out of URBAN GARDEN MAGAZINE issue 18 July/August 2010. The words are by STEVE BERLOW, FLORIGEN RESEARCH LABORATORIES.
"Whats the big deal with Carbohydrates and Amino Acid products these days?
Are they being used or misused by growers?
We asked Steve Berlow, a research consultant for florigen Research Laboratories, Canada to give us his insider perspective on the rise of carbohyrates and amino acid products in the market place in recent years..."
The hydroponics and indoor gardening industry is rapidly changing and evolving. Recently the pace of that change has become quite staggering with new products seeming to appear almost daily - nowhere is this more prominent than in the field of plant nutrition. In the last few years the hydroponic nutrient market has progressed from one offering base nutrients and some phosphorous flowering boosters to todays market where a stunning (some might say 'bewildering') array of new technologies and theories are promoted.
Two product types that have been causing a lot of chatter in the growing community are carbohydrate (sugar) supplements and amino acid based additives. And for good reason. Sugars and amino acids are both interesting concepts in the context of plant nutrition and many experts consider them to be on the cutting edge. all sounds pretty exciting doesnt it? But before you rush off and buy that fancy labelled bottle of sugary or amino acid goodness, you really should get your head around some basic facts concerning these substances and the ability of plants to make use of them.
CARBOHYDRATES - ARE THEY REALLY CANDY FOR YOUR PLANTS?
"You've probably heard the hydpe about carbs : - feed your plants supplemental carbs and turn them into Olympic gold Medal Winners!"
So a grower walks into their local shop, decides to buy a big bottle of some sugary carb supplement, with the intention of deploying it in his next res change. The notion is that the plants will suck up the carbs and get a boost of 'pure energy' without having to go through the relative hassle of producing them as a product of photosynthesis. Errrr, sorry to spoil the big carb party, but its not actually that straight forward. The carbohydrate supplement is definately a case of where theory got ahead of practice. In theory, providing your plants with an array of simple and complex carbohydrates seems like a great idea. We all know that plants, driven by light energy and photosynthesis, produce sugar and starch. The plant uses them for growth and development. So the theory goes: If we supplement our nutrient solution with those very same sugars and starches, then the plant wont have to make them all for itself and can therefore devote its energy to other things - such as making big flowers and fruits! Alternatively, if the plant is undergoing a period of physical stress (such as flowering or fruiting), then the supplementation of those sugars and starches will enable the plant to grow and develop at warp speed as we have removed a limiting factor. Unfortunately all this seems feasible in a text book but, as usual, these things are rarely as simple in real life.
So Why not? Well, put it simply, it's one thing to supplement a plant with carbs in a lab, quite another to do so in vivo (real life, real situation). You can inject carbs directly into a stem of a leaf, for instance, using laboratory techniques, but surely the crunch question is : can a plant uptake carbohydrates through its roots? I have been involved in research aimed to determine whether plants could actually uptake and utilise carbohydrates and, if so what could they uptake and utilise. Carbohydrates range in size from very small, simple structures like glucose or fructose through to enormously large, complex molecules like polysaccharides. So - did i find that plants could uptake simple and complex carbohydrates? Other than the some very simple, and small carbohydrates (e.g plain table sugar or fructose / glucose ) plants essentially CANNOT absorb other more complex carbohydrates through their root zone. Why? It's because of a unique littel barrier in the roots called the CASPARIAN STRIP - complete with his sidekick the ENDODERMIS. Essentially the casparian strip forces everything, and that includes carbohydrates, through the endodermis to be actively selected or rejected for uptake..
Ready for the science bit? Introducing the Casparian Strip - Your plants Very Own Homeland Security Officer!!!!
Inside the roots of your plants sits a very innocuous and extremely important band of cells - called the Casparian Strip. I like to think of this as a sort of "Security Guard" for your plant. It is used to block the passive flow of materials (travelling between cells), such as water and solutes, from entering into the main water carrying columns of the plant - the xylem and phloem. By doing this it forces everything to actively pass through or be rejected by the endodermis. Within the Epidermis, water passes through the cortex, mainly traveling between the cells. However, in order to enter the Stele, it must pass through cytoplasm of the cells of the Endodermis. Once within the stele, water is free to move between cells as a well as through them. For solutes to pass through the endodermis and be transported across to the stele they must be in Inorganic, ionic form. As you can see, getting water and nutrients inside your plant is no easy process.
An interesting side note for people who grow with organic Nutrients. When you hear of the virtues of organic fertilisers, remember that such materials are unable to meet any nutritional needs of the plant until they have been degraded / Converted into inorganic forms. Organic matter does play an important role in making good soil texture and rhizosphere health, but it can only meet the nutritional needs of the plant to the extent that it can yield inorganic ions. Once within the epidermis, only the inorganic ions pass inward from cell to cell.
AMINO ACID SUPPLEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTATION - POSSIBLE OR POSSIBILITIES?
Okay, after that bombshell, lets take a look at amino acids. These are fascinating little things, these miniature building blocks of protein - body builders love them and , according to many growers, plants do too. So what roles do amino acids play in plant nutrition?
There are a total of 21 amino acids used in the production of protein and you've probably seen most of them listed on the back of a bottle by now. They are known as proteinogenic amino acids.
The table above shows the 21 proteinogenic Amino Acids.
Every chemical reaction or process that goes on inside a plant relies on protein. From photosynthesis through to hormone production, growth and development, and stress - proteins are used by the plant for every aspect of its life, so (we can see that a similar phrase is in the beginning of the next paragraph, perhaps substitute: obviously) amino acids are very important in the big scheme of things
This importance has not escaped the attention of researchers and manufacturers of plant nutrients and additives. We are now seeing the emergence of quite a few products that contain these essential building blocks of life. One area being examined by both researchers and manufacturers are amino acids that are direct precursors to hormones. Tryptophan is one popular amino acid being researched s it is the direct precursor to indoleacetic acid (IAA) - a powerful growth hormone. Arginine is one of the precursors for cytokinins and is a major player in the production of flowers and fruits biochemical level. Other interesting roles for amino acids include their part of mitigating plant stress. Huge quantities of proline are produced by a plant during times of stress to assist with osmotic balance and to maintain a positive water status.
Amino acids are also used as a source of nitrogen in the root zone as a they are delaminated by the rhizosphere bacteria and fungi. The bacteria feed on the amino acids and in return nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, is released which can be absorbed by the plant. Ammonia is very rapidly absorbed and utilised by the plant and, in small quantities, is very benficial to the support of rapid growth and development. A new very exciting and emerging area of amino acid research, and one that i am very actively involved in, is the role played by accumulated amino acids. In plants, the roles of accumulated amino acids vary from acting as an osmolyte, to the regulation of ion transport, to modulating stomatal opening, and to the detoxification of heavy metals. Amino acids also effect the synthesis and activity of enzymes, and most excitingly of all play a major role in gene expression! So its readily apparant why plant nutrient manufacturers would be interested in the humble amino acid - they could be very useful to growers! As useful as they might be, amino acids are also commonly misunderstood - just like the carbohydrates we looked at earlier. ONce again theory is getting way infront of reality.
As with carbohydrates no one has really looked at whether plants can actively take up amino acids through their roots. A major focus of my research is examing how, or if plants can take up amino acids in this way. One method is to feed plants a solution of radioactively labelled amino acids and then take special x-rays of the whole plant 24hours later. You can actually visualise the extent of the amino acid uptake. In all of the experiments ive been involved in, almost none of the amino acid solution fed to the plants had been absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves. So whats at play here? Once again its the role of the Casparian strip and endodermis coming into action and excluding the uptake of almost all of the amino acid solution fed to the plants. Amino acid supplementation does work to a minor extent - as some, but very few, of those root fed amino acids are absorbed by the plant. The exciting phenomenon is that the tiny amount that does manage to get absorbed positively affects the growth and development of plants.
SO WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Only simple sugars are absorbed by the plant root system. And, only a very small amount of any amino acids supplied will ever be taken up by your plants root system. So what does that mean? Are carbohydrate and amino acid products a waste of time?
No Not exactly. Even when a small amount of amino acid is absorbed by the plant, we can get some positive effects. The simple sugars in carbohydrate products do get absorbed; other form a good source of food for beneficial bacteria in your root zone. So there are some benefits from using these types of products - just probably not to the degree that some of us may have hoped.
Feeding your plants carbohydrate and amino acid supplements is not a waste of your time or money; in fact many of those simple and complex carbohydrates serve as food for your friendly bacteria and fungi in your root zone. But dont forget that your plants roots constantly exude simple and complex, carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins into the rhizosphere and that those exudates already serve as food and growth promoting compounds for many of the beneficial bacteria, fungi and micro organisms present in your plants rhizosphere.
Root exudates are commonly devided into 2 classes. Low-molecular weight compounds such as amino acids, organic acids, sugars, and other secondary metabolites and high-molecular weight exudates such as : mucilage (polysaccharides or complex carbs) and proteins. The Rhizospheric bacteria and fungi return the favour, in a symbiotic relationship, by breaking down complex products in the rhizosphere into ionic forms the plant can absorb as well as excreting protein and secondary signalling molecules of their own that benefit the plant by increasing its rate of growth and development. In fact, much or all of the apparent success of carbohydrate and amino acids products are due to this inadvertent pwer feeding of your root zone friendlies and the symbiotic benefits they return to your plants.
THE FUTURE OF CARBOHYDRATES AND AMINO ACIDS?
Biochemists and plant researchers around the world are conducting research into mothods of delivering carbohydrates and or amino acids directly into the plant in large or precise controlled amounts. We are conducting research on developing radical new delivery methods for compounds that are otherwise impossible to deliver to plants in a controlled or effective manener. Techniques such as bio - and nano - encapsulation technologies are currently being pursued and developed - the promise of these techniques is huge. They could allow things like complex carbohydrates and amino acids to be delivered to your plants as they need them.
THE END.
Wow now that took some serious time to write out here for you all.....
I hope this has helped some of you understand more the Carbs and amino acid debate etc.
J
