What role does calcium play in a plant?

Question

or in root functions

Answer 1

Imagine the room that you're sitting in is a plant cell of your favorite turf species. The walls that surround you are made of calcium pectase. The more calcium that is available to that cell

    Calcium plays a major role in the construction of numerous hormone and enzyme systems that can help protect the plant from insect and disease attack...

the stronger those walls become. If calcium is limited the walls are as weak as balsa wood. As more calcium becomes available, those walls take on the strength of cinder blocks. The stronger the cell, the stronger the plant, and the quicker its recovery from the enormous pressures that it's faced with on the golf course. This works for both leaves and roots. The stronger the root cells are the more aggressive the roots will be moving through the soil. Proper levels of calcium within the plant strengthens the whole plant and allows for efficient use of sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen and mineral nutrients.

Answer 2

. During wounding, intracellular contents such as calcium, magnesium and the defense peptide systemin, a potent activator of the wound response, are released into the apoplastic space. Our analysis showed that elevated concentrations of calcium or magnesium ions in the apoplast significantly enhanced the biological activity of systemin by decreasing the concentration necessary to induce maximal proteinase inhibitor accumulation by 100-fold. Calcium ionophores disrupt calcium gradients across biological membranes and consequently elevate intracellular calcium levels.Calcium-dependent protein kinases play an essential role in a plant defence response.Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) comprise a large family of serine/threonine kinases in plants and protozoans.