Nanotechnology Scope and Applications for Wheat Production and Quality Enhancement:A Review of Recent Advances

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is main staple food grain crop, grown in a range of environments over an area of 221.6 million hectares (M ha) with an annual production likely to reach more than 750.4 million metric tons in 2016-17 (Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA, 2018). Despite of this significant growth, the world population in some parts is still facing hunger crisis due to insufficient availability of food grains. To meet the future food demands imposed by overwhelming increasing population which is expected to reach nine billions in 2050, the world wheat production must continue to increase by 2% annually. This challenge of increasing wheat production is daunting as the wheat cropping system at present is constrained by climatic fluctuations, poor soil health and has increased risk of epidemic outbreak of diseases and insect-pests. To address these challenges, innovative technologies with a potential of increasing the sustainability of the present day cropping systems are required to be introduced in modern agriculture. Among these technological advancements, nanotechnology is gathering significant contemplations due to its wide spectrum applications in agriculture and allied sectors. It has a wider application in the field of crop production, food security, sustainability and climate change and is being utilized for developing several precise tool sets like nanofertilizer, nanopesticide, nanoherbicide, nanosensor and smart delivery systems for controlled and sustained release of agrochemicals. Recent research evidences indicated that intervention of nanotechnology in wheat farming is still in its early stages, although have bright prospects for efficient nutrient utilization through nanoformulations of fertilizers, breaching yield barriers through bionanotechnology, surveillance and management of pests and diseases and development of new-generation pesticides etc.

Plant growth promoting and antifungal activity in endophytic Bacillus strains from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum)

“…Generally, plant growth is drastically disturbed by poor availability of soil nutrients [78]. The inadequate solubilization of mineral nutrients like P, K, Zn, and N resulted in nutrient poor agricultural soil [79,80].…”

Biocontrol Potential of Salt-Tolerant Trichoderma and Hypocrea Isolates for the Management of Tomato Root Rot Under Saline Environment

“…Soil salinity has been recognized as a principal environmental threat, which limits crop productivity as well as slows down the growth of beneficial microorganisms (Goswami et al 2019;Jasrotia et al 2018;Sharma et al 2015;Regragui et al 2003;Rawat et al 2011). The present investigation led to demonstrate a prominent effect of Trichoderma and Hypocrea isolates in reducing both biotic (R. solani) and abiotic (salinity) stresses in tomato.…”

Drought Stress Tolerance in Wheat and Barley: Advances in Physiology, Breeding and Genetics Research

“…Recently, plant breeders have become interested in agricultural nanotechnology, which can be defined as the application of nanoparticles (NP) which may have some beneficial effects to the crops, with its tools to enhance productivity and tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance [138]. Three advantages of using nanotechnology are: they are cheap, of low consumption, and of low phytotoxicity [139] though nanoparticles may have positive and negative biological effects based on their concentration [140].…”