Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 10
Plant Diseases—Control and Remedy
Through Nanotechnology
Remya Nair and D. Sakthi Kumar
1 Introduction
Agriculture is the backbone of most of the developing countries, in which a major
part of their income comes from agriculture sector and more than half of the popula-
tion depends on it for their livelihood. Even though nanotechnology has revolution-
ized the field of electronics, textiles, separation technology, material science and
healthcare (Feiner
2006
; Hu et al. 2007; Caruthers et al.
2007
), its wide scope in
agriculture and crop protection has not been explored much. Today, agriculture sec-
tor is facing several challenges such as increasing demand for food under changing
climatic conditions and increasing risk of pests and diseases. Nanotechnology could
provide possible solutions to many of the major risks in agriculture. It could im-
prove our understanding of the biology of different crops, thus potentially enhance
yields and nutritional values with greater control over various plant diseases and
pest incidences. It could also help in developing improved systems for monitoring
environmental conditions and delivering nutrients and/or plant protecting chemicals
in the needed concentrations, thus controlling various plant diseases in the right
manner at the right time (Sharon et al.
2010
).
Development of nanodevices and nanomaterials for agriculture and plant re-
search would allow various novel applications, ranging from treatments with agro-
chemicals to delivery of nucleic acids for genetic transformation (Scrinis and Lyons
2007
). Nanosensors and nano-based delivery systems help in efficient use of water,
chemicals and nutrients through precision farming and will help the agricultural
industry combat viruses and other crop pathogens. Research is still a long way for
us until such nanodevices could be widely used. Nanotechnology has the potential
to revolutionize the agricultural and food industry with new tools for the molecular
