Nanotechnology and plant biopesticides: An overview

Abstract

The increasing worldwide population and demand for higher food stocks require application of modern techniques for manifold agricultural production as well as minimizing losses during cultivation of crops, transportation, and storage. Various methods have been involved and used to combat insect pests since ancient period. During the nineteenth century, inorganic, botanical, and natural pesticides have been mostly exploited resulting in reduced losses in agricultural yield. Synthesis of new chemicals based on discovery of new structure elucidation and biological activities of various compounds have been invented globally. Further, the severe adverse effects of the chemical pesticides on the environment mainly due to development of resistance, residue problem, and harmful effect on beneficial arthropods have been recorded in the past that led to unrest among public which resulted quick actions for stricter regulations and legislation for reducing their wider use. Since the resistance problem in pests have been rapidly found in mostly all the classes of arthropods, the advance approach to increase the efficiency of pesticides is now known to be the application of nanotechnologies in modern formulation technologies. In this chapter we have discussed in detail about the possibility of application of nanotechnology in improving the bioactivities of plant biopesticides against pests of agriculture and storage.