Chapter 8 - Interactions of Nanoparticles with Plants: An Emerging Prospective in the Agriculture Industry

Abstract

The successful application of nano-structures in biomedicine and agriculture has emerged as an important and new area of research. Crop production and its improvement are essential to maintain a self-sustainable world and to feed its ever-increasing population. This can be widely achieved through “agri-nanotechnology,” which promises natural resource management through novel tools and technological platforms within limited resources of land and water. Nanotechnology has the potential to advance agricultural productivity through designing and fabricating materials, devices and systems at the nano-scale that could exploit the properties (physical, chemical, biological) at the desired dimension. Nanoparticles (NPs) differentiated on the basis of their occurrence, kind, and composition can be employed in various ways to manage growth promotion in plants. These recent developments have opened broader avenues in the advancement of genetically modified crops through site directed delivery of various macromolecules including genes and drugs, smart delivery systems of agrochemicals, early detection of diseases and pathogens, plant protecting chemicals and precision farming techniques. However, this could be successfully facilitated in plants only after enhancing our knowledge about the uptake, transportation, and accumulation of NPs in plants. Since reports reveal contradictory effects of NPs on plants, optimization of experimental conditions like medium of plant growth, size, and shape of NPs, etc. should be performed. This would increase the potential of nano-formulations, nano-genetic manipulations and nano-array-based technologies for plant management. Controlling plant pathogens, their prevention and disease treatments using various nanocides are among other major milestones of nanotechnology. Comprehending the interaction between plants and their environment (soil, water, and atmosphere), it becomes important to study the impact of nanotechnology on agriculture with references to toxicity concerns. Moreover, the growth and metabolic functions in response to a myriad of nanoparticles vary differently among plants. They provide pathways to NPs and result in their bioaccumulation into food chains to reach higher species of ecosystems. The Indian economy largely depends onagriculture, therefore research and development in agricultural nanotechnology is of paramount importance.