Question

Explain the significance of transpiration.

Answer 1

Hint:- Most of the water absorbed is lost through the aerial parts of the plants into air by the process called as transpiration. Less than 2% of water is used up in the various metabolic activities in the plant body.

Complete Answer:- Transpiration is defined as the loss of water from the living tissue of aerial parts of the plant in the form of water vapors. There are three types of transpiration exhibited by the plants: cuticular, lenticular and stomatal.
The various advantages of the transpiration are:
- It helps in the absorption of mineral salts.
- It is responsible for the ascent of sap.
- It controls the absorption rate of water from soil.
- It regulates the plant temperature and contributes to cooling of leaves and also the surrounding air. It also protects the leaves from heat injury.
- The disadvantages of transpiration are:
- This may cause water deficits and injury to the plants by desiccation.
- Most of the water absorbed by plants is lost through transpiration.
- The process of transpiration appears to be curing as a natural consequence of the basic facts of leaf anatomy. Mesophyll cells with a lot of intercellular spaces with stomata are essentially meant for gaseous exchange, required for important processes like photosynthesis and respiration. Leaf with this type of anatomy, unavoidably is responsible for the process of transpiration.

Note:- Transpiration, thus has also been referred to as necessary evil. To reduce transpiration loss of water the formation of thick, waxy coatings on the leaves is very common in xerophytic plants. Also the transpirational loss in C4 plants is less than that in C3 plants.