We love to see greenery around us. However, have we ever tried to answer some basic questions that may sound very simple in nature, but demand a reply for sure? Like why do plants need sunlight? Why they fail to grow that steadily with artificial light? What is a phototroph? And, what helps plants make their own food and ultimately flourish, and so on?

Sunlight is essential for plant survival, along with water, minerals, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide. Actually, sunlight ensures that the plant carries out photosynthesis, i.e. a pivotal process that utilizes carbon dioxide and converts the same into organic compounds like sugars. For doing so, plants rely on chlorophyll in leaves.

Phototroph, scientifically speaking, is an organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) from simple substances present in its surroundings, generally using energy from sunlight (photosynthesis. Plants need sunlight for being so. Thus, plants require sunlight to grow their own leaves and flower well, and that too, without eating other organisms.