Plant Respiration Notes 🌱💨
1. What is Respiration?
Plants break down food inside their cells to release energy. This process is called cellular respiration.
- 🌿 Food sources: Mostly carbohydrates, but sometimes proteins, fats or organic acids
- 🔋 Energy storage: Energy is released slowly and stored as ATP (the cell’s energy currency)
- 💡 Why ATP?: Cells can’t use food energy directly – ATP delivers energy when needed
2. Do Plants Breathe? 🤔
Yes! But differently than animals:
- 🌬️ Gas exchange: Through stomata (leaf pores) and lenticels (stem/root openings)
- 🔄 O₂ in, CO₂ out: Plants use oxygen and release carbon dioxide
Why no breathing organs?
- 🌿 Each plant part handles its own gas exchange
- 🐢 Plants respire slower than animals (except during photosynthesis)
- 🌳 Living cells are always close to air (even in thick stems)
3. The Respiration Equation
Glucose breakdown releases energy:
\[ \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{O}_2 \longrightarrow 6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} + \text{Energy} \]💡 Key point: Energy is released in small steps to make ATP, not all at once as heat!
4. Glycolysis: The First Step
Glycolysis = Splitting sugar (💥 Greek: glycos = sugar, lysis = splitting)
- 📍 Where: Happens in cytoplasm of ALL living cells
- 🔁 Process: 1 glucose → 2 pyruvic acid molecules
- 🙅♂️ No oxygen needed: Works without air (anaerobic)
- 🌿 Plant glucose sources: From photosynthesis (sucrose) or storage
- 👨🔬 Discoverers: Embden, Meyerhof, Parnas (EMP pathway)
💡 NEET Must-Knows
- 💰 ATP is energy currency: Respiration energy gets stored in ATP
- 🍃 Plant gas exchange: Stomata (leaves) and lenticels (stems/roots)
- ⚡ Glycolysis: First respiration step (anaerobic, in cytoplasm)
- 🧪 Respiration equation: \[ \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{O}_2 \rightarrow 6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} + \text{Energy} \]
- 🐌 Energy release: Slow, controlled steps to trap energy in ATP
