Abstract

In a developing country like India, with significant number of people living under poverty line, agriculture is the mainstay for the livelihood of more than 50 per cent population. To meet the food requirement of increasing population, although a large acreage of land is under cultivation of a range of crop species, the average yield every year, however, has not been as anticipated. Plants have failed to realize their full growth potential owing to varying abiotic stress conditions like high salinity, drought, extreme temperatures, presence of heavy metals, water logging etc. Efforts have been made and are underway to devise strategies/methodologies that could evoke defensive response in plants when exposed to stress conditions. In the recent past, the use of nanoparticles has emerged as a ray of hope in providing solution for combating this obstacle that hamper crop plants from realizing their full growth potential. Nanoparticles are small particles with dimensions satisfying the nanometer scale. Although nanoparticles have been synthesized using physical and chemical methods, these methods are not only expensive, but also are non-eco-friendly and hazardous to health. Of late, a safer approach (green approach) of synthesizing nanoparticles, using plant extracts, have been adopted and has found wide acceptance among the agricultural scientists. Nanoparticles have large surface area, show quick absorbance/penetration with precision delivery to the target site. Use of nanoparticles like Fe, Cu, Zn, Ag, Au, silica etc. have shown positive response in plants manifested in increased germination, high chlorophyll content, increased proline synthesis, photosynthesis etc. The encouraging response seen in plants has led to the resurgence in efforts to try a range of nanoparticles synthesized from myriad plant species. This communication reviews the efforts made by various scientific groups using nanoparticles and the results achieved

Keywords: Green synthesis; Plant, Nanoparticles, Biotic and abiotic stress