Nanopesticides for sustainable agriculture and nanotechnology for abiotic stress tolerance and management in plants

Abstract

Plant health and crop productivity for demand of multiple uses rely heavily on fertilizer use, no matter whether plants grow under either stress or nonstress conditions. The major problem with conventional fertilizers is linked to their low crop nutrient use efficiency and high loss into water bodies, which consequently impose critical threats to other living organisms. The second problem is about the hampered/retarded uptake and translocation of the nutrients/fertilizer through the plant body, as the case commonly observed for plants suffering from biotic or abiotic stress conditions. Those critical concerns led researchers to address their focus on nano-enable fertilizer to control or gradually release and use the efficiency of nutrients. So, the use of nanotechnology has been increased in agricultureover the last two decades. Nanoagrochemicals were developed in different forms and called nanopesticides and nanofertilizers. The applications of this technology may be advantageous as a revolution in sustainable agriculture. Besides the positive impacts (benefits), the negative impacts (risks) of nanotechnology such as toxic effects should be determined in agriculture. One of the most important issues in agriculture is the use of harmful pesticides. To reduce the harmful effects of these pesticides, environmentally friendly and effective nanopesticides against pests should be developed using nanotechnology. In recent studies on nanopesticides, the effects of different nanoparticles (NPs)_such as TiO2, ZnO, and silicon on pests have been determined and successful results have been obtained against pests. In addition to the use of nanopesticides in agriculture, another area where nanotechnology can be used is to increase the resistance of plants against stress conditions (biotic and abiotic) by supporting them with NPs. Many studies revealed that nanotechnology can be used for the growth, yield, adaptation, quality properties and stress tolerance of crops. This chapter aimed to reveal the use of nanotechnology as a pesticide and its benefits against certain abiotic stress tolerance in plant cultivation for sustainable agriculture. © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.