Plant physiology Julius von Sachs unified the pieces of plant physiology and put them together as a discipline. His "Lehrbuch der Botanik" was the plant physiology bible of its time. Researchers discovered in the 1800s that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients in the soil are dissolved in water, plant roots absorb nutrients readily, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. This observation is the basis for hydroponics, the growing of
Epigenetics of plant growth and development premise in plants. In hybrids, lack of proper regulatory action, such as silencing by methylation, leads to uninhibited genes. If the gene is involved in growth, such as photosynthesis, the plant will experience increased vitality (Ni et al. 2008). The results heterosis can be seen in traits such as increased fruit yield, earlier ripening, and heat tolerance. Heterosis has been shown to provide increased general growth and fruit yield in tomato plants (Xiaodong). Epigenetics of plant growth and development Plants depend on epigenetic processes for proper function. Epigenetics has been defined as "the study of changes in gene function that