Role of nanotechnology for enhanced rice production

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa spp.) is a main cash crop all around the globe. It is grown under a wide range of environments. Food deficiency is a major issue in the world with growing global population. The current challenge in agriculture is food quality and quantity decline. In earlier times conventional farming techniques were used for rice cultivation. The major issue about conventional farming is to maintain the crop productivity, soil structure and fertility. Integrated farming, inorganic chemical fertilizers, ecological farming and Sri Lanka farming system are conventional practices which we mentioned in this chapter. These conventional farming practices raising rice crop showed decreased fertility of soil and increase the negative impact on environmental ecosystems. These conventional methods upgrade the risk of global warming and minimize the effective agricultural operations. To achieve required food production in the last few eras, nanotechnology has become one of the most promising techniques to revolutionize the conventional food science and technologies. Nanotechnology is the technology of the twenty-first century. This new discipline brings nano-agrochemicals, i.e. plant growth-promoting nanosystems (to enhance plant growth and production), nanopesticides and nanofertilizers. Nanotechnology offers the nanofood processing and advancement of nano-based food material, smart delivery of nutrients and bioactive materials. This chapter focused on nano-agrochemicals, diagnosis of plant pathogen and nanofood-based technologies as advanced approaches of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture and food industry. In this chapter the potential uses and benefits of nanotechnology in precision agriculture are discussed. We also discussed the current and future uses of nanomaterials in agriculture, food safety and security and recommendations regarding to nanomaterial.