4 - Emerging role of nanotechnology in precision farming

Abstract

Precision farming (PF) or precision agriculture is an attribute of administration and management of farming techniques through keen observation, measurement, and precise retort to inter and intrafield crop capriciousness. PF accounts and events parameters like crop yield, organic matter content, moisture levels, terrain features/topography, nitrogen levels, Mg, K, pH, electrical conductivity, etc. assist researchers and farmers to locate and create a map of the spatial variability. PF ratifies the crop sciences to bout farming practices to crop needs, environmental protection to reduce risks and footprint of farming, and the economics to boost the competitiveness for more efficient practices usage and inputs of resources. Nanotechnology is one of its six “Key Enabling Technologies” recognized by the European Commission that subsidizes sustainable competitiveness and development in several fields of industrial application in the existing era. Nanomaterials are materials that have at least one dimension in the range of 1–100nm and these small objects entertain as a whole or in parts concerning transport and properties. The nanoparticles are synthesized either by bottom-up or by the top-down process without atomic control. This involves physical, chemical, and biological approaches to the synthesis of nanomaterials. Various applications of these nanomaterials are nanomaterial mediated delivery systems, nanofertilizers, insect-pest management, nanoherbicides, nanofungicides, and nanobiosensors in agriculture and their types. Based on the literature reviewed, the present chapter is aimed to focus on the possible application of nanotechnology in sustainable agriculture and the usage of nanomaterials in PF.