Plant Respiration

Respiration, The release of energy from glucose or other organic substances inside living cells. During respiration, sugar starch and oxygen is turned into carbon dioxide and energy. Every cell needs to respire in order to produce the energy it needs. Cellular respiration is often used to describe this phenomenon. See the following subjects:

• Cellular respiration, the process in which the chemical bonds of energy-rich molecules such as glucose are converted into energy usable for life processes
• Anaerobic respiration, a process that allows respiration without use of oxygen; can only happen for a limited amount of time in humans
• Plant respiration, the enzymatic oxidation of substrates in plants, leading to the release of carbon dioxide

Plant respiration is the oxidation of certain substrates by enzymes, leading to a release of carbon dioxide. It can be loosely thought of as the opposite of photosynthesis, though the net release of carbon dioxide in respiration is less than carbon uptake in photosynthesis.

Respiration is an essential life process in plants. It is necessary for the synthesis of essential metabolites including carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids, as well as for the transport of minerals and other solutes between cells. It consumes between 25 and 75% of all the carbohydrates produced in photosynthesis at ordinary growth rates.