Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The study of plant nutrition involves identifying which chemical elements are essential for plant growth and development.
Historically, researchers used water culture (hydroponics) and purification techniques to prove the essentiality of macro- and micronutrients.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us match the nutrients in List-I with their discovering authors in List-II:
- (A) Molybdenum: The essentiality of molybdenum as a micronutrient was established by Arnon and Stout in 1939 using tomato plants.
They showed that extremely small quantities of Mo are necessary to prevent deficiency symptoms and complete the life cycle. Thus, (A) matches (III).
- (B) Zinc: The essentiality of zinc was established by Sommer and Lipman in 1926.
They demonstrated that barley and sunflowers could not complete their life cycles without trace amounts of zinc. Thus, (B) matches (IV).
- (C) Sulphur: Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop (1860) developed the first standardized nutrient solutions.
They demonstrated the essentiality of macronutrients, including sulphur, in plant nutrition through water culture experiments. Thus, (C) matches (I).
- (D) Carbon: Joseph Priestley (1772) discovered that green plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
His work established the role of carbon assimilation in plants. Thus, (D) matches (II).
Combining these pairs gives: (A) - (III), (B) - (IV), (C) - (I), (D) - (II).
This matches Option (D).
Step 3: Final Answer:
The correct matching sequence is (A) - (III), (B) - (IV), (C) - (I), (D) - (II).