Role of Nanoparticles in Enhancing Crop Tolerance to Abiotic Stress: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Plants are subjected to a wide range of abiotic stresses, such as heat, cold, drought, salinity, flooding, and heavy metals. Generally, abiotic stresses have adverse impacts on plant growth and development which affects agricultural productivity, causing food security problems, and resulting in economic losses. To reduce the negative effects of environmental stress on crop plants, novel technologies, such as nanotechnology, have emerged. Implementing nanotechnology in modern agriculture can also help improve the efficiency of water usage, prevent plant diseases, ensure food security, reduce environmental pollution, and enhance sustainability. In this regard, nanoparticles (NPs) can help combat nutrient deficiencies, promote stress tolerance, and improve the yield and quality of crops. This can be achieved by stimulating the activity of certain enzymes, increasing the contents (e.g., chlorophyll) and efficiency of photosynthesis, and controlling plant pathogens. The use of nanoscale agrochemicals, including nanopesticides, nanoherbicides, and nanofertilizers, has recently acquired increasing interest as potential plant-enhancing technologies. This review acknowledges the positive impacts of NPs in sustainable agriculture, and highlights their adverse effects on the environment, health, and food chain. Here, the role and scope of NPs as a practical tool to enhance yield and mitigate the detrimental effects of abiotic stresses in crops are described. The future perspective of nanoparticles in agriculture has also been discussed.

The effect of using fresh farmyard manure (animal manure) on the severity of Fusarium verticilioides in soil, root, stem, and kernels as well as lodging and borer incidence of maize plants

“…These results clarify the importance of soil fertilization with stored organic manure (for about five to six months). In general, the biocontrol of plant root disease can be obtained by manipulating the rhizosphere microflora by favouring beneficial microorganisms that are directly antagonistic to root pathogens ( Gardiner, 2018 , El-Saadony et al, 2022b , El-Sitiny et al, 2022 , Elnahal et al, 2022 , Fouda et al, 2022 , Gadallah et al, 2022 ).…”

Manganese Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Mechanisms of Influence on Plant Resistance to Stress, and Prospects for Application in Agricultural Chemistry

“…Thus, Mn-containing NPs can increase plant resistance to various abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity (see also refs and ). The authors consider the mechanisms of resistance to be an increase in the amount of photosynthetic pigments in plant tissues under the influence of Mn NPs, an increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and a decrease in LP levels, as well as maintaining the stability of cell membranes.…”

“…In plants inoculated with chitosan NPs, increased expression of β-1,3-glucanase, chitinase, PR-1 , PR-3 , PR-8 , and PR-10 genes, which are involved in plant protection from biotic stress, was recorded . SiO 2 NPs induced SAR to the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae in Arabidopsis …”

“…142 SiO 2 NPs induced SAR to the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae in Arabidopsis. 122 Below we describe in detail the studied cases of stimulation of plant resistance to biotic stress under the influence of Mn NPs. Chemically synthesized Mn NPs can also induce SAR in plants against various pathogens.…”

Review on Pesticide Abiotic Stress over Crop Health and Intervention by Various Biostimulants

“…Ag NPs, for instance, possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, making them useful against plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi Ag NPs can increase the concentration of abscisic acid (ABA) in red pepper, while CuO NPs can reduce the levels of auxin and ABA in cotton. Furthermore, research has shown that high concentrations of NPs can be lethal to plants by disrupting photosynthesis and altering the pigment and composition of photosynthetic cells. − The combination of GO and Ag NPs exhibited a strong synergistic effect, as demonstrated by the excellent antibacterial activity of GO-Ag NPs nanocomposites. The inhibitory efficiency of these nanocomposites against Fusarium graminis was found to be three times higher than that of sterling silver NPs .…”