Role of Zinc and Zinc Oxide Nanofertilizer in Enhancing Crop Production

Food demand is rising as the world's population expands, yet agricultural yield declines due to climate change, low soil fertility, and nutrient deficiency are serious concerns in crop production. Nanomaterials, especially metal and metal oxide nanoparticles used as nanopesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers, have become a new-age material in the last decade, transforming modern agriculture. Among other metal nanoparticles, zinc and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) have attracted undoubted attention for sustainable plant performance as it stimulates germination of seed, early flowering, enzyme activity, and higher yield. Although physiological indices determine ZnONPs, they affect structural modifications, including stomatal and trichome morphology, induced vacuole in root cortex cells, protoplast shrinkage, and thylakoid degradation, indicating the toxicity of ZnONPs in the photosynthetic apparatus. In addition, applying these nanoparticles to plants arrests the cell cycle and induces apoptosis, which causes severe damage to DNA. The beneficial or adverse response usually depends on the species’ type, size, concentration, treatment methods, stage of development, and the genotype of the species or environmental conditions. However, increased use certainly leads to the accumulation of ZnONPs in the ecosystem. In order to properly use and regulate the release of nanopreparations, it is necessary to understand how they change and behave in complex systems.