Question

Write about the symbiotic mode of nutrition as seen in fungi.

Answer 1

Hint: The nutrition is the process of the nutrient’s availability to the plants. It is classified into autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition. The autotrophic nutrition takes place in the green plants, since they produce their own food. Whereas the heterotrophic nutrition takes place in the animals and other organisms that depend on the plants for their food.

Complete answer:
The heterotrophic nutrition is again classified into three types as parasite, saprophyte and the symbionts. The parasite presents inside or outside the body of the host for the absorption of the nutrients. Saprophytes depend on the dead plants and the animals for nutrition. The symbiotic nutrition is the type of nutrition in which the two organisms live in close association with each other in which both the organisms are in mutual understanding so that they help each other for the purpose of surviving.

The example for the symbiotic relationship is the lichens and fungi, rhizobium and the leguminous plants, Anabaena and the azolla etc. In Lichens, there are both the components of the fungi and the algae. The fungi are present in leaves and serve as home for photosynthesis and the algae provide energy to it. In mycorrhizae, the fungi are present in the roots of the plants called VAM (Vascular arbuscular Mycorrhizae). The fungi get the energy from the plants where this fungi in the form of mycorrhizae absorbs the nutrients from the soil. These mycorrhizae possess special roots called hyphae for the nutrient’s absorption.

Note: The example of the parasite is cuscuta and viscum. The example for the saprophytic organism is the microorganisms like organisms like yeast, mushroom etc. The other example for the symbiotic organisms is bryophytes and liverworts etc.