Nanoparticle technology enabling smart agriculture solutions: Nexus of food and environment

Presented by Pratim Biswas

Abstract

Food production is a global challenge issue that requires sustainable, environmentally benign and smart agricultural methodologies to address the needs of a burgeoning population. The use of nanoparticle aerosol science and technology to synthesize effective composite fertilizers and delivery methodologies, demonstration of effective uptake by both soil and foliar application, enhanced metrics of plant and food product growth, and resultant reduced deleterious impact on the environment will be presented. Comparison of metrics of nutrient uptake efficiency, plant biomass growth and nutritional content of food product will be done for the developed methodologies to conventional approaches. Detailed transport models for nutrients in the form of nanoparticles will be described to guide the design of the overall methodology. Advantages of the proposed methodology include low cost, single step approaches for nanocomposite fertilizer synthesis; lower amounts of application due to efficient uptake and effective, targeted delivery; enhanced nutritional quality of the food product; and finally reduced deleterious environmental impacts.