Nanoparticles’ Synthesis and Their Application in the Management of Phytonematodes: An Overview.

Abstract

One of the most effective novel areas of research is nanotechnology. It is a field that is improving daily, especially in the subject of agriculture. Crop production is hindered by several pests of economic importance, which are responsible for huge crop losses and invariably contributing to global food insecurity with attendant consequences such as malnutrition, starvation, social isolation, and other overlapping issues that cannot be overemphasized. Crops are predisposed to losses from agricultural pests and diseases because the peasant farmer lacks efficient soil, virile seeds, and environmental management techniques. The citizens are subjected to poverty and hunger owing to the devastating effect of huge crop losses in the field and storage. The synthetic-based approach, though highly indispensable in agricultural crop pest management, is laden with severe environmental pollution and has brought various diseases to the human race. This necessitated the development of safer alternative pesticidal substances with the aim of improving crop production. Prodigious attention has been paid by the researcher toward application of nanoparticles (NPs) and their application in sustainable agriculture. NPs are new methods that could be used to redeem the environment from its polluted state. Materials act differently in their nano form, which improves their activity as pesticidal agents. In agriculture, nanomaterials have been used in livestock and crop protection; they exhibit properties like biodegradability, solubility, permeability, and thermal stability. They also possess surface areas that increase their affinity to the target organism. Nanomaterials are available in different forms such as nanocontainers, nano-encapsulates, nano-cages, and nano-emulsions for pest management use, and their potency has been established in crop disease control. NPs aregood sources of controlled release mechanisms, which is a way of reducing the amount of pesticides or fertilizers injected into the environment while crops are on the field. NP biomarkers can be used in detecting bacteria, viruses, fungi, and nematodes of economic importance in agriculture; as diagnostic tools, nano sensors can indicate certain compounds in plants that are elicited by the plants only in disease conditions. The use of nano sensors as pesticide residue detectors comes up with accurate and reliable information. Nanotechnology consists of two major aspects, that is, the synthesis of nano-sized materials and the application or use of the synthesized nanomaterials for the intended purpose. Phytonematodes cause a wide range of losses to agricultural crops; they are a major threat to world food production as they cause yield losses in all areas of the world. Considerable yield losses are caused annually by several nematode species on crops. In order to increase yield, NPs have been employed in the control of nematodes. This overview highlights synthesis, characterization of NPs, and successes in the area of phytonematode management