Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.1 Why look at nanotechnology in fertilizer inputs? Results from searches of the SciFinder
database of papers (a) and patents (b) with the keywords listed (accessed January 3, 2014) show
that the use of nanotechnology in fertilizers (
red lines
) is on the rise but still is far behind from
what is seen in other applications, such as pharmaceuticals (
gray bars
)
2.1.2 Why Could Nanotechnology Be Useful in Fertilizer
Products?
Nanometer scale structures are important in many facets of plant biology. Plant cell
walls have pore diameters ranging from 5 to 20 nm (Fleischer et al.
1999
). Plant
roots, the nutrient gateway to the plant, are highly porous on the nanometer scale.
Pores on the order of one to a few tens of nanometers in diameter, important for
