The Role of Nanotechnology in the Fortification of Plant Nutrients and Improvement of Crop Production
By E. Elemike, I. M. Uzoh, D. Onwudiwe, O. Babalola. Applied Sciences, 2019
322 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Nutrient deficiency in food crops is seriously affecting human health, especially those in the rural areas, and nanotechnology may become the most sustainable approach to alleviating this challenge. There are several ways of fortifying the nutrients in food such as dietary diversification, use of drugs and industrial fortification. However, the affordability and sustainability of these methods have not been completely achieved. Plants absorb nutrients from fertilizers, but most conventional fertilizers have low nutrient use and uptake efficiency. Nanofertilizers are, therefore, engineered to be target oriented and not easily lost. This review surveys the effects of the addition of macro- and nanonutrients to soil, the interaction, and the absorption capability of the plants, the environmental effect and food content of the nutrients. Most reports were obtained from recent works, and they show that plants nutrients could be enriched by applying nanoparticulate nutrients, which are easily absorbed by the plant. Although there are some toxicity issues associated with the use of nanoparticles in crop, biologically synthesized nanoparticles may be preferred for agricultural purposes. This would circumvent the concerns associated with toxicity, in addition to being pollution free. This report, therefore, offers more understanding on the application of nanotechnology in biofortification of plant nutrients and the future possibilities offered by this practice. It also highlights some of the ills associated with the introduction of nanomaterials into the soil for crop’s improvement.
Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Plant Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/940a424f60df3d69dc7f91b3f0313bd0a7131758
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Citations in the corpus
- Drought Stress Impacts on Plants and Different Approaches to Alleviate Its Adverse Effects (2021, background): “On the other hand, less than optimal water availability in the rhizosphere hampers the plant growth, thereby inhibiting the plant nutrient uptake [49].”