Nanotechnological interventions for plant health improvement and sustainable agriculture

Agriculture is the source of food for both humans and animals. With the growing population demands, agricultural production needs to be scaled up where nanotechnology can play a significant role. The use of nanotechnology in agriculture can manage plant disease and growth for better and quality output. Therefore, this review focuses on the use of various nanoparticles for detection of nutrients and contaminants, nanosensors for monitoring the environmental stresses and crop conditions as well as the use of nanotechnology for plant pathogen detection and crop protection. In addition, the delivery of plant growth regulators and agrichemicals like nanopesticides and nanofertilizers to the plants along with the delivery of DNA for targeted genetic engineering and production of genetically modified (GM) crops are discussed briefly. Further, the future concerns regarding the use of nanoparticles and their possible toxicity, impact on the agriculture and ecosystem needs to be assessed along with the assessment of the nanoparticles and GM crops on the environment and human health.