Biotic factors refer to the living organisms that affect plant growth and development in various ways.

These organisms, both macro-and micro-organisms, are the living components of the environment that influence the manifestation of the genetic factor on phenotypic expression.

Macroorganisms refer to the animals such as humans and other mammals, birds, insects, arachnids, mollusks, and plants while microorganisms include fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes.

The effects of these biotic factors on plant expression may be advantageous or disadvantageous, depending on how they interact with the plant.

These interactions include mutualism, herbivory, parasitism, and allelopathy.

Click here to read on separate window update on how microbes can boost agricultural yields

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Joseph Black (1728–1799) was a British physician and chemist who is credited for discovering carbon dioxide, a chemical reactant in photosynthesis, although it was then called “fixed air”.

He also takes credit for having discovered specific heat and latent heat.

Black was born in Bordeaux, France of Scottish descent. At the age of 14, he studied Latin and Greek in Belfast.

At the age of 16 in 1744, he enrolled at Glasgow University to study arts but shifted to medicine in 1748.

He was employed by William Cullen, the professor of medicine, as his laboratory assistant.

Cullen started giving lectures in chemistry in the preceding year (1747), although chemistry has not been taught in the university, and Black showed a passion for the discipline.

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Yes, there are grass flowers and all grasses have or possess the ability to produce flowers.

But this conclusion only leads to many questions.

Why don’t we see flowers in these plants? Does Zoysia (also called Bermuda grass) really produce flowers? How about rice and corn? And bamboo?

Well, well, well. These questions are really both easy and excruciatingly difficult.

It largely depends on how botanically prepared is the asker. And more so for the asked and answered.

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The main use of water, that is, liquid freshwater, is in agriculture.

This is clear based on the statistics from the United Nations, notably UN-Water and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

UN-Water, through its website unwater.org (2011c), summarized how water is used worldwide:

• 70% of the world’s fresh water is used in agriculture,
• 22% by industry, and
• 8% for domestic use.

This means that crop and livestock production absorbed the bulk of the uses of water.

This usage largely consists of irrigation.

About 70% of this agricultural use of water comes from aquifers, streams, and lakes.

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Jackfruit or jack (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jacquier, kathal, langka, nangka, khanun, makmi, banun, nongko, kapiak and peignai, is a plant that probably originated from the Western Ghats in India.

It has become naturalized in many tropical countries, mostly in Southeast Asia where it is considered a major fruit.

Where food is scarce, it is utilized as a staple.

This fruit crop is adapted to warm and humid climates below 1000 masl, but it can thrive up to 1600 meters.

It has a poor cold, drought, and flooding tolerance but has moderate tolerance to wind and salinity.

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The essential plant nutrients, or essential elements, are listed in the table below.

It enumerates 16 chemical elements of which the essentiality for plant growth and reproduction has been established according to the criteria formulated by D.I. Arnon and P.R. Stout  in 1939.

This listing has existed since 1954 with chlorine as the latest addition (cited by Hopkins 1999)

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