Nanoparticle-plant-microbe interactions have a role in crop productivity and food security

Abstract

The environmental and consumer concerns about the cultivation approaches and safety of food products obtained through the application of chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides have paved towards the use of precision agriculture and organic/integrated farming approaches. These approaches could be dichotomized as the precision agriculture-enabled techniques involving improvement in the use efficiencies of the applied agri-inputs and the use of microbial biofertilizers which involves plant growth promotion and provision of essential nutrients to the growing crop plants. The use of nano-products/devices for agricultural applications have emerged as one among the precision agriculture strategies. The nanomaterial derived products/devices have already been aptly utilized for electronics, paint, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications. The use of these nano-products have led to movement of nano-components from both industrial and agricultural sources to find their way to soil and water bodies as their ultimate sink sites. The fate, dynamics, and ecological repercussions of the nano-scale contaminants in land and water niches are enigmatic and the short and long-term impacts are required to be researched. The elusive status of the impact of nanomaterials on a variety of microorganisms further limits the precise role played by the two components. Therefore, it is imperative to identify the bi- and tri-partite interactions of nanomaterials with microbes and plants. Published literature advocates that the NMs can alter plant growth, physiology, and metabolism, besides affecting the diversity and activity of soil microbial communities. The existing know-how on the interactions between plant microbes and nanomaterials, focusing on the outcomes and implications of these interactions has been explored in this manuscript.