Nanotechnology in Agriculture

Nanotechnology is currently a new dynamically developing industry exceeding the impact of the industrial revolution. It is still unexplored in the field of agriculture – the key mainstay of the progress of the socio–economic progress of our country. Pot culture experiments conducted with coated seeds with nano scale (< 100 nm) ZnO powder @ 25 mg Zn/g seed, and @ 50 mg Zn/g seed also revealed that the crop growth with ZnO coated seeds were similar to that observed with soluble Zn treatments applied as ZnSO4, 7H2O (@ 2.5 ppm Zn). Likewise, application of CuO nano particles (< 50 nm) to maize plant increased the growth. The experiments also showed that maize seed soaked with MgO nano particles (< 50 nm & 1000 ppm HgO) enhanced the chlorophyll content and crop growth. However, using nanotechnology in agriculture (specially Nano–fertilizer), we can increase production, application and tremendous impact on crop yield. This should be harvested in a very near future with golden reaps of the crops. The book covers – Nanotechnology, its meaning, history, characteristics, concepts, applications; Implications of Nanotechnology, Health & Environmental Concerns, Regulation & Nano Innovation; Nanotechnology – larger to smaller, Molecular Nanotechnology, Current Research of Nanomaterials, Bottom–up/Top–down/Functional and Biometric Approaches; What Inventions Nanotechnology might yield, Tools & Techniques, Applications & Implications; Impact of Nanotechnology, Potential Benefits, Risks & Effects; Special Impact of Nanotechnology; Impact of Molecular Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology in Agriculture, Food, Recent Developments; Nano–fertilizer, Production, Application, Crop Yield, Nano–Micro nutrients Fertilizers; and Other Aspects of Nano–Agriculture in Precision Farming, Recommendations & Golden Days for Future. Hope, the book will help the students of the SAUs for further research in the farmers’ field, augmenting a golden future supplying foods to the hungry millions.