Plant Nano-nutrition: Perspectives and Challenges

The global agriculture is facing many challenges including sustainable use and conservation of natural resources, climate change, urbanization, and pollution resulting from agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides). So, the sustainable agriculture is an urgent issue and hence the suitable agro-technological interventions are essential (e.g., nano- and bio-technology) for ensuring the safety and sustainability of relevant production system. Biotechnology and nanotechnology also can be considered emerging solutions to resolve the global food crisis. Nanoparticles or nanomaterials can be used in delivering different nutrients for plant growth. These nanoparticles as nanofertilizers have positive and negative effects on soils, soil-biota and plants. These effects mainly depend on multiple factors including nanofertilizer properties, plant species, soil fate and dynamics as well as soil microbial communities. Nanofertilizers could improve the nutrient use efficiencies through releasing of nutrients slowly and steadily for more than 30 days as well as reducing the loss of nutrients in agroecosystems and sustaining farm productivity. Here we review the plant nano-nutrition including the response of plants and soils to nanonutrients and their fate, dynamic, bioavailability, phytotoxicity, etc. Concerning the effects of nanonutrients on terrestrial environments are still an ongoing processes and it demands further researches as well as a knowledge gap towards different changes in shape, texture, color, taste and nutritional aspects on nanonutrients exposed plants as a major component in the food chain. Moreover, the interaction between nanonutrients and plants, soils, soil biota and the entire agroecosystem will be also highlighted.