Nanobionics: A Sustainable Agricultural Approach towards Understanding Plant Response to Heavy Metals, Drought, and Salt Stress

Abstract

In the current scenario, the rising concentration of heavy metals (HMs) due to anthropogenic activities is a severe problem. Plants are very much affected by HM pollution as well as other abiotic stress such as salinity and drought. It is very important to fulfil the nutritional demands of an ever-growing population in these adverse environmental conditions and/or stresses. Remediation of HM in contaminated soil is executed through physical and chemical processes which are costly, time-consuming, and non-sustainable. The application of nanobionics in crop resilience with enhanced stress tolerance may be the safe and sustainable strategy to increase crop yield. Thus, this review emphasizes the impact of nanobionics on the physiological traits and growth indices of plants. Major concerns and stress tolerance associated with the use of nanobionics are also deliberated concisely. The nanobionic approach to plant physiological traits and stress tolerance would lead to an epoch of plant research at the frontier of nanotechnology and plant biology.

Recent advances in nano-fertilizers: synthesis, crop yield impact, and economic analysis

“…Unfortunately, the authors did not provide information on the production cost of the conventional Fe used, which makes it challenging to conduct a comparative cost-benefit analysis. A previous review 216 found that eggplant yield increases were 24% and 52% for conventional and nano-CuO fertilizers, respectively. A 25 g bottle of conventional CuO cost 18.50 $, while nano-CuO costs 44.00 $, resulting in a gain of 4637.00 $ per acre with an investment of 26.00 $ (44.00 $-18.50 $).…”

“…215 Cellular organelles produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in stress situations, which are the main symptom of abiotic stress. 216 Plants possess enzymatic mechanisms to cope with the oxidative stress they are subjected to by the environment. 201 On the other hand, plants suffer the effects of such a situation when the defense system fails.…”

Heavy Metal Contamination in Soil: Implications for Crop Resilience and Abiotic Stress Management

“…Their synthesis is mediated by the enzyme phytochelatins synthase (PCs), which is activated in response to metal exposure. This activation leads to the chelation of toxic metal ions, such as Cd, Cu, and Zn, thus mitigating their toxicity to plants [127][128][129].…”

“…The reaction involves the gamma-glutamylcysteine moiety of glutathione being polymerized to form PCs, which can bind to and detoxify metals/metalloids within the plant cells. This process not only plays a significant role in the detoxification and tolerance of metal/metalloids but also highlights the potential for phytoremediation applications, where plants are used to remove pollutants from the environment [127,129].…”

“…The presence of metal/ metalloids highly regulates the expression of PCS genes, and the activation of these genes leads to the synthesis of PCs, which chelate and sequester metals/metalloids in the vacuoles of plant cells. This mechanism ensures the detoxification of metals/ metalloids and the protection of cellular functions from metal toxicity [127].…”