Excretion in plants

The main excretory products include water and oxygen. These wastes diffuse out of the plant through the stomata and lenticels of stems as they are formed.

Other plant wastes include; tannins, alkaloids, anthocyanins which are converted into insoluble compounds like granules and oil droplets which remain in the cells and are got rid of when certain parts of the plants e.g fruits, leaves and flowers fall off from the plants.

Excretion in plants differs from that in animals because of the following reasons

Plants have got a lower metabolic rate compared to animals therefore the rate of accumulation of metabolic waste is very low
Plants are autotrophs and therefore synthesize their own organic requirements according to the demand for them. There are never excess proteins in plants therefore very little excretion of nitrogenous wastes
Plants have a capacity to store excretory products in some structures where they can be lost at a later stage e.g. fruits, flowers, leaves, barks etc.
Much of the plant structure is based on carbohydrate and not protein. The products of carbohydrates carbon dioxide and oxygen can be used in photosynthesis as raw materials. The oxygen given out as a byproduct of photosynthesis can be used in respiration