Research on Application of Nanomaterials in Agriculture

Shenzhen College of International Education, Shenzhen 518043, China

^* Corresponding author: hontik.m@gmail.com

Abstract

The agriculture sector is grappling with significant challenges, including declining crop yields due to soil degradation, increasing pest resistance to conventional pesticides, and the pressing need for sustainable farming practices to mitigate environmental degradation. Over the past three decades, nanotechnology has emerged as a promising field, offering innovative solutions to these issues. This article sorts out the previous work of nanotechnology applied in the field of pesticides, fertilizers, animal husbandry and food testing, and obtains that nanomaterials can improve the utilization rate of pesticides and reduce the loss rate, while also improving the effectiveness of fertilizers to achieve the effect of reducing fertilizer usage and increasing production. In animal husbandry, nanoparticles can improve the utilization of nutritional additives. Meanwhile, nanoparticles have certain antibacterial and antiviral activity, which can solve the problem of drug resistance of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella etc. towards antimicrobial drugs. Nanoparticles as immune adjuvants can also improve the immune effect of vaccines on animals. In the field of food testing, bio-nanosensors can detect bacteria and viruses quickly and accurately to improve food safety, while Raman optical sensors prepared by metal nanoparticles have a broad prospect in the field of drug residue detection. However, the toxicity of nanomaterials and their potential safety hazards for human beings need to be emphasized. Based on the safety assessment of nanomaterials, it is our aim to make good use of nanotechnology and achieve further innovative results in the agricultural field.