ABSTRACT
Agriculture is the practice of cultivating soil, harvesting crops, and rearing livestock. Changes in climate, soil depletion, pest problems, and biodiversity loss have greatly hindered agricultural development, causing diseases in plants and affecting food quality. Meanwhile, contemporary agriculture offers a wide range of alternatives, one of which is the use of chemical fertilizers, which have environmental and ecological effects. The investigation of alternative nutrient sources and the adjustment of current nutrient sources are both necessary to ensure crop production sustainability. To resolve these problems, scientists have employed nanotechnology in the field of agriculture which involves the use of nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 1 to 100 nm. Nanotechnology is the largest agricultural controlling technique, having several potential benefits such as improved food quality and safety, reduced agricultural inputs, and enhanced soil absorption of nanoscale nutrients. Specific applications of nanotechnology in agriculture include nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and nanosensors to track products and nutrient levels so as to boost productivity without contaminating soils and waters, as well as providing protection against many insect pests and microbiological illnesses. Nanofertilizers have been developed by enclosing plant nutrients in nanomaterials and distributing them in the form of nano-sized emulsions. Nanobiosensors are nanomaterials with characteristics that improve sensing mechanisms. Nanotube-based sensors, nanoparticle-based biosensors, nanowire-based sensors, and quantum dot-based sensors are examples of biosensors. Several nanoparticles (Ag, Fe, Cu, Al, Si, Zn, ZnO, TiO2, CeO2, Al2O3, and carbon nanotubes) have been identified as having negative impacts on plant growth, bringing the use of nanoparticles in agriculture into question.
