Nanotechnology: A potential approach for abiotic stress management

Abstract Abiotic stress alters the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum which adversely affects the crop productivity and plant growth. Abiotic stress is due to both natural as well as anthropogenic activities the major cause for the reduction in crop yields worldwide. There is urgent need of environmental friendly technology to overcome these stresses and improve the resource use efficiency and agricultural sustainability. Nanomaterials are the magic bullets having capability to mitigate the constraints associated with abiotic and biotic stress. Nanoparticles can penetrate specific cellular locations because of their extreme small size and acquired some peculiar properties play significant role in the protection of plants against various abiotic stresses. NMs protects the plants against oxidative stress as they mimic the role of antioxidative enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POX) under adverse environmental conditions such as drought, salinity, water logging, extreme temperature, UV-radiation, etc.