Mineral and Nitrogen Nutrition in Plants
Green plants are the autotrophs on planet since they manufacture their own food in presence of sunlight. But for inorganic matter, they depend on outside world and these elements are called mineral nutrients. Minerals may be simple or complex they blend themselves in plant body. Approx. 60 different minerals are reported from plants of which 30 are seen in all plants-16 are essential and rest non-essential.

The essential mineral elements are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper, boron, zinc, manganese, molybdenum and chlorine. Essential elements are divided into two categories based upon their quantity required-macro-elements are microelements.

Macroelements
These are required by plants in large quantities e.g. C, H, O, N, P, S, Ca, Mg and Fe.

Microelements
These are drawn from soil, water and atmosphere. Carbon enters as atmospheric CO₂. Sources of hydrogen is H₂O and O₂ from air or water. Atmospheric nitrogen is not directly available to plants and reaches it through a series of pathways to the plant body. The study of importance of mineral nutrients required by plants and the effect of their deficiency is done with the help of water culture. Large scale cultivation of plants in water culture is called hydroponics. Some vegetable and ornamental plants are grown by this culture in shallow tanks.