Chapter 8 - Toxicological concerns of nanomaterials in crop plants

Abstract

The ever-increasing global population is becoming a major concern as far as the supply of quality food is concerned. It is well-known that agriculture is the only basic source to get food. Therefore, the fulfillment of such a huge worldwide demand for food creates immense pressure on the agriculture sector. Hence, a significant increase in the crop production is essentially required. However, currently, agriculture sector is facing several challenges raised due to different biotic and abiotic stresses. Among these, biotic factors such as microbial pathogens, insect pests, and weeds are the main sources responsible for significant crop yield losses. To date, many path-breaking technological innovations have been developed and proposed to increase crop production. It mainly includes the use of synthesis agrochemicals like fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and weedicides. However, the over and unregulated use of these agrochemicals resulted in several ill effects such as soil pollution, effects on soil microflora, loss in soil fertility, etc. Considering the potential applications of nanotechnology in agriculture, utilization of nanotechnological approaches has been recommended to overcome the above-mentioned concerns. It is well proven that nanomaterials can promisingly promote the growth of plants. However, on the other hand, it was also found that the same nanomaterials can be toxic to plants if they are not used in desired concentration. Considering all these facts, in the chapter, we have mainly focused on the toxicological concerns of important nanomaterials in some crop plants. In addition, various other aspects such as factors or properties of nanomaterials responsible for their toxicity, management of toxicological concerns due to nanomaterials in plants, uptake and translocation of nanoparticles into plants, and interaction of nanomaterials with the biological system have been also discussed.