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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1510482
This article is part of the Research Topic Managing Metal Toxicity in Plants and Soil: Strategies for Stress Mitigation and Remediation View all 6 articles

Nanoparticles as Catalysts of Agricultural Revolution: Enhancing Crop Tolerance to Abiotic Stress: A Review

Provisionally accepted
Yahan Cao Yahan Cao 1Khalid Turk Khalid Turk 2Nabila Bibi Nabila Bibi 3Abdul Ghafoor Abdul Ghafoor 4Nazeer Ahmed Nazeer Ahmed 5Muhammad Azmat Muhammad Azmat 6Roshaan Ahmed Roshaan Ahmed 3Muhammad Imran Ghani Muhammad Imran Ghani 7,8*Mohammad Abass Ahanger Mohammad Abass Ahanger 9
  • 1 College of Life Sciences, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
  • 2 Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences, College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
  • 3 Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 4 College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
  • 6 University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 7 College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China
  • 8 College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
  • 9 Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resource and Sustainable Use, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Mengla, Yunnan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ensuring global food security and achieving sustainable agricultural productivity remains one of the foremost challenges of the contemporary era. The increasing impacts of climate change and environmental stressors like drought, salinity, and heavy metal toxicity threaten crop productivity worldwide. Addressing these challenges demands the development of innovative technologies that can increase food production, reduce environmental impacts, and bolster the resilience of agroecosystems against climate variation. . Nanotechnology, particularly the application of nanoparticles (NPs), represents an innovative approach to strengthen crop resilience and enhance the sustainability of agriculture. NPs have special physicochemical properties, including a high surface-area-to-volume ratio and the ability to penetrate plant tissues, which enhances nutrient uptake, stress resistance, and photosynthetic efficiency. This review paper explores how abiotic stressors impact crops and the role of NPs in bolstering crop resistance to these challenges. The main emphasis is on NPs potential to boost plant stress tolerance by triggering the plant defense mechanisms, improving growth under stress, and increasing agricultural yield. NPs have demonstrated potential in addressing key agricultural challenges such as nutrient leaching, declining soil fertility, and reduced crop yield due to poor water management. However, applying NPs must consider regulatory and environmental concerns, including soil accumulation, toxicity to non-target organisms, and consumer perceptions of NP-enhanced products. To mitigate land and water impacts, NPs should be integrated with precision agriculture technologies, allowing targeted application of nano-fertilizers and nano-pesticides. Although further research is necessary to assess their advantages and address concerns, NPs present a promising and cost-effective approach for enhancing food security in the future.

    Keywords: Climate Change, Nanotechnology, abiotic stress, Nanoparticles, sustainable agriculture, plant stress mitigation

    Received: 13 Oct 2024; Accepted: 10 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cao, Turk, Bibi, Ghafoor, Ahmed, Azmat, Ahmed, Ghani and Ahanger. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Muhammad Imran Ghani, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.