Nutrient salt

In biology, nutrient salt is an inorganic , low-energy substance that is necessary for producers to use to build their own biomass and to be absorbed in ionic form . This does not mean substances like CO ₂ or H ₂ O , but substances that contain mineral elements such as nitrogen , sulfur or phosphorus . The most important nutrient salts are sulfates (SO ₄ ²⁻ ), nitrates (NO ₃ ^- ) and phosphates (PO ₄ ³⁻ ).

Nitrogen has a special position as a “nutrient salt”, as nitrogen usually comes from organic matter through nitrification and is not of mineral origin - however, it is only absorbed by the plants in bound form as N-ion and not directly from the air as N ₂ becomes.

In the producers, the nutrient salts become part of the biomass, they are converted into organic compounds . So the nitrogen from the nitrates z. B. built into amino acids or proteins and nucleic acids .

It is important to distinguish between nutrient salts and non-mineral and organic nutrients .

See also

• Main nutrient
• Trace element
• Soil pH
• Plant nutrition
• fertilizer

literature

• Arnold Finck : Plant nutrition in brief . 5th edition. Hirt / Borntraeger, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-443-03100-5 .