‘All elements that are present in a plant need not be essential to its survival’. Comment.

Explanation

Most of the elements present in the soil enter plants through roots. All the elements that are present in a plant need not be essential for its survival. The criteria of essentiality of an element can be known
a) The element must be absolutely necessary for supporting normal growth and reproduction. In the absence of the element the plant do not complete their life cycle or set the seeds.
b) The requirement of the element must be specific and not replaceable by another element. In other words, deficiency of any one element cannot be met by supplying some other element.
c) The.element must be directly involved in the metabolism of the plant.