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| Role of Nanotechnology in Agriculture | | | Dr. Banarsi Lal and Dr. Pawan Sharma
According to the United Nations report, the current global population is 7.6 billion which is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.Currently 50% of population is living in Asia. A good number of people living in developing countries still face daily food shortages as a result of environmental factors or other disturbances, while in the developed world there is a surplus food. In the developing countries such as India where large part of the country is rainfed, there is urgent need to develop drought and pest resistant varieties of different crops by which the crops yields can be maximized. Agriculture is always considered as the most important and stable sector because it produces and provides raw material to both food and feed industries.
The development in agriculture is compulsory phenomenon for the purge of poverty and hunger which must get rid from the present era. Thus, bold and new steps are needed in the agricultural sector. New agricultural technologies need to adopt by which we can increase the crops production and productivity. Agriculture is the backbone of the developing countries like India. Research in agriculture sector is helpful in improving the efficiency of crop production and productivity, food processing and food safety. Nanotechnology is a new tool which is helpful to achieve these desired goals. In agriculture and food systems, the fundamental life processes are explored through research in molecular and cellular biology. New tools for molecular and cellular biology are required that are specifically designed for separation, identification and qualification of individual molecules. This is possible with nanotechnology that could permit rapid advances in agriculture research. In order to excel in agricultural sector new tools are required that allow us to work and explore living cells and biomolecules at the molecule scale. This is possible with nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of individual atoms, molecules or molecular clusters into structures to create materials and devices with new or vastly different properties. Nanotechnology can work from the top down means reducing the size of the smallest structures to the nanoscale e.g. photonics applications in nanoelectronics and nanoengineering or the bottom up which involves manipulating individual atoms and molecules into nanostructures and more closely resembles chemistry or biology. The definition of nanotechnology is based on the prefix -nano- which is from the Greek word meaning dwarf. In more technical terms, the word nano• means one billionth of something. For instance, a virus is roughly 100 nanometres (nm) in size. The word nanotechnology is generally used when referring to materials with the size of 0.1 to 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology focuses on special properties of materials emerging from nanometer size e.g. in biological systems, the first level of organization occurs at the nanoscale structure. Nanotechnology can revolutionize the scientific world by allowing scientists to manipulate matter at the atomic or molecular scale using physics, engineering, chemistry and biology. Nanotechnology is a broad and interdisciplinary area of research and development activity that has been growing at a rapid pace worldwide in the past few years. It enables researchers to understand the relationship between macroscopic properties and molecular structure in biological materials of plants and animal origin. Nanotechnology is having a significant commercial impact which will certainly increase in the future.
Nanotechnology can revolutionize the agricultural and food industry with new tools for the molecular treatment of plant diseases, rapid disease detection, enhancing the ability of plants to absorb nutrients etc. Smart sensors and smart delivery systems will help the agricultural industry to combat viruses and other crop pathogens. An agricultural methodology mostly used in the USA, Japan and Europe which effectively utilizes modern technology for crop management is called Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Controlled Environment Agriculture is an advanced and intensive form of hydroponically based agriculture.
Plants are grown within a controlled environment so that horticultural practices can be optimized. This technology provides an excellent platform for the introduction of nanotechnology in agricultural sector. Nanotechnogical devices for CEA can tremendously improve the grower’s ability to determine the best time of harvest for the crop, the vitality of the crop and food security issues, such as microbial or chemical contamination.
Smart devices can act as both plants disease preventive and an early warning system. Such devices can be used to deliver agro-chemicals in a controlled and targeted manner in the same way as nano-medicines has implications for drug delivery in humans. Technologies such as encapsulation and controlled release methods have revolutionized the use of insecticides, pesticides and herbicides.
Precision farming can maximize output by increasing the crop yield by minimizing inputs such as fertilizers; pesticides etc. by monitoring environmental variables and applying targeted action. Precision farming makes use of computers, remote sensing devices and global satellite positioning systems to measure highly localised environmental conditions.
By using centralised data to determine soil conditions and plant development, seed, fertilizer, pesticides and water use can be lowered down. In this technique production costs can be reduced and crop production can be increased. Precision farming is helpful to reduce agricultural waste and thus keeps environmental pollution to a minimum level. Tiny sensors and monitoring systems enabled by nanotechnology can have a large impact on future precision farming methodologies. These nano sensors can be distributed throughout the field where they can monitor soil conditions and crop growth. Wireless sensors are already being used in certain parts of some developed nations.
The use of pesticides increased in the second half of the 20th century and many of these pesticides were later found to be highly toxic, affecting human and animal health. As a consequence they were banned. To maintain crop yields, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system, which mix traditional methods of crop rotation with biological pest control methods are becoming popular and implemented in many countries. In the future, nanoscale devices with novel properties can be used for smart farming. For instance, devices can be used to identify plant health issues before these become visible to the farmer or scientist. Such devices may be capable of responding to different situations and they can alert the farmer about the field problem. New research also aims to make use of water, pesticides and fertilizers by crop plants more efficiently, to reduce pollution and to make agriculture more environmentally friendly. Nanotechnology can also be used to clean ground water. There is need to strengthen the adoption of nanotechnology so that food safety and security can be ensured. New antimicrobial coatings and dirt repellent bags are needed to ensure the safety and security of packaged food. Nanotechnology can protect the environment by the use of alternative energy supplies and filters or catalysts. There is need to identify the potential of nanotechnology in the agrifood sector and more research is required in this field. |
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