The global agricultural landscape faces unprecedented challenges, including climate change, soil degradation, and water scarcity, necessitating innovative approaches to enhance crop resilience. Nanotechnology has emerged as a promising avenue for addressing these challenges by offering precise tools to manipulate and engineer materials at the nanoscale. This chapter explores the application of nanotechnology to enhance crop resilience in challenging environments. Nanomaterials, such as nanoparticles and nanocomposites, exhibit unique physicochemical properties that can positively impact plant growth, stress response, and overall crop performance. Engineered nanomaterials have demonstrated the ability to enhance nutrient uptake, mitigate abiotic stressors, and bolster plant defense mechanisms. Additionally, nanoscale delivery systems enable targeted and controlled release of agrochemicals, optimizing their efficacy while minimizing environmental impact. This chapter highlights recent advancements in nanotechnology-driven strategies to improve crop resilience, encompassing nanoscale nutrient delivery, stress-responsive nanomaterials, and precision agriculture technologies. Furthermore, the potential risks and ethical considerations associated with nanotechnology in agriculture are discussed. Overall, the integration of nanotechnology holds great promise for sustainable agriculture, offering novel solutions to ensure food security and mitigate the impact of challenging environmental conditions on global crop production.
Top1. Introduction
The food production and distribution chain are under tremendous pressure due to various factors, including soaring climate change, population growth, water scarcity, and soil contamination (Rajput et al., 2021). The diminishing arable land because of urbanization and industrialization further compounds the issue, making food security the biggest concern of the century (Cheng et al., 2023). To meet global food demand, more productive and stress resilient system is crucial. Although the crop production system has improved significantly since the green revolution, but it cannot be sustained without technological advancements. Furthermore, the inefficient utilization of agrochemicals has jeopardized sustainable crop production (Singh et al., 2022). The use of synthetic fertilizers is detrimental to plant sustainability due to low nutrient efficacy, increased environmental risks, higher production costs, and reduced farmer profitability. Traditional breeding methods have indeed played a significant role in enhancing agricultural traits and crop productivity over time. However, these methods can be time-consuming due to approaches such as pure line selection, backcrossing, and single seed descent, and they may face limitations in introducing new traits between species, which can hinder the rapid development of improved varieties. Additionally, there is growing recognition that current agricultural practices need to evolve towards more sustainable and efficient methods to address environmental concerns and ensure long-term ecological balance. Therefore, a technological revolution in making stress resilient crop management system is necessary to sustainably meet global food demands in the future (Banerjee et al., 2024).
Figure 1.
The prospective applications of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in sustainable agriculture aim to enhance the stress resilience of crop plants (Science Direct)
Nanotechnology, a rapidly advancing interdisciplinary field, has emerged as a promising avenue for addressing the challenges facing global agriculture, particularly in the context of climate change and environmental stressors (Singh et al., 2023a). The application of nanotechnology in agriculture, known as nanobiotechnology, holds immense potential for enhancing crop resilience in adverse conditions. By leveraging nanoscale materials and devices, researchers aim to develop innovative solutions to mitigate the impact of abiotic and biotic stresses on crops. These stressors include drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and various pathogens that threaten agricultural productivity. The unique physicochemical properties exhibited by nanomaterials enable precise manipulation of biological processes at the molecular level, offering opportunities to optimize plant growth, nutrient utilization, and defense mechanisms. This scientific exploration of nanotechnology for improved crop resilience not only signifies a paradigm shift in sustainable agriculture but also underscores the urgency of adopting novel strategies to ensure food security in the face of evolving environmental challenges (Dehghanian et al., 2023).
Top2. Understanding Challenging Environments
Arid zones, characterized by persistent water shortages, high evaporation, and frequent droughts, cover a significant portion of the Earth's land area. Various classification systems exist, including those based on winter temperatures, length of growing period, and precipitation-to-evapotranspiration ratio. Arid regions occupy 10.6% of the Earth's land area, with an additional 15.2% in semi-arid zones. Notably, more than a third of the global population resides in dryland regions (Majeed, Bhatti, & Amjad, 2021).