Tools for Nano-Enabled Agriculture: Fertilizers Based on Calcium Phosphate, Silicon, and Chitosan Nanostructures

Abstract

The Green New Deal requires a profound transformation of the agricultural sector, which will have to become more sustainable and ensure universal access to healthy food. Thus, it will be essential to introduce radical technological innovations. Nanotechnologies have the potential to produce a significant boost to the improvement of the food system. Within this context, in the next years, a strong challenge will need to be faced regarding developing new and more efficient uses of nutrients in agriculture, being the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) paramount in sustaining high crop productivity without depleting biodiversity, and altering both the natural and agricultural systems. Nutrients leaching causes environmental pollution and water eutrophication, while nutrient excess favors pest and weed widespread. Therefore, it will be mandatory to improve plant nutrition efficiency without affecting agricultural productivity and economic sustainability. A promising alternative consists of the introduction of the so-called nanomaterial enhanced fertilizers and plant growth stimulators. Such innovation includes nanotechnological solutions that can improve nutrient delivery for a more finely tuned, accurate, and saving-resources distribution of nutrients. This review provides a critical view of the latest advances in nanofertilizer research, mainly referring to nano-hydroxyapatite, silica nanoparticles, and chitosan-derived nanostructures.

Insight into the Prospects for Nanotechnology in Wheat Biofortification

“…Nanomaterials that are utilized for wheat biofortification can also be classified as (a) Polymeric nanomaterials made up of repeated chains of molecules differing in structure and compositions [ 42 ]; (b) ceramic nanomaterials that are nonmetallic and heat resistant nanomaterials composed of both metallic and nanometallic compounds [ 43 , 44 ]; and (c) metal nanomaterials made up of metallic compounds such as metal oxides, quantum dots, nanogold, nanosilver [ 45 ]. Moreover, these materials can be grouped according to their nutritional benefit to the applied plants, such as (a) micronutrient fertilizers, (b) macronutrient fertilizers, (c) plant growth-stimulating NFs, and (d) nanomaterial-enhanced fertilizers [ 44 ].…”

“…As NPs can be applied in appropriate doses at appropriate timings, these can optimize the use of natural resources allowing “precision farming”. While conventional fertilizers are being applied several times in a growth season by farmers to increase the yield, the controlled release of nutrients from nanofertilizers reduces the number of doses and consequently application costs [ 44 ]. A chemical fertilizer consumption of 22 million tons have been reported in 2015 by USDA [ 96 ].…”

Recent Trends in Nano-Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture under Climate Change for Global Food Security

“…70% in 2050 as a result of the increasing population [ 5 , 6 ]. It is necessary to ratify innovative and futuristic agri-technologies to achieve global food security with improved plant productivity [ 6 ], because environmental difficulties may arise primarily due to the inefficiency of various farming operations based on conventional fertilization practices [ 7 ]. The nutrient utilization efficiency (NUE) seems to be an important metric for assessing agricultural production and nutrient bioavailability in plants [ 8 , 9 ].…”

“…Fertilizers offer nutrients to optimize crop productivity, usually being applied through soil surface broadcasting or mixed with irrigation, which may cause damage to the atmosphere, water bodies, and the ecosystem [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Hydroponic techniques are used to grow some crops under greenhouse conditions, at the expense of about 10 times greater water and energy consumption, found to be neither economical nor sustainable [ 7 , 15 , 16 ]; the addition of fertilizers can cause eutrophication and ground water contamination, which may badly impact public health [ 17 , 18 ].…”

“…In such a scenario, newer agricultural interventions need to be implemented to fulfill the desire of our global food system [ 7 ] along with the safety of ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate [ 12 , 13 ], as fertilizer use is proposed to be nearly 20% less by 2030 [ 19 ] through best farming practices to ensure approx. 85% of global agricultural production in the next 10 years [ 20 , 21 ].…”