Previous decades have witnessed a lot of challenges that have provoked a dire need of ensuring global food security. The process of augmenting food production has made the agricultural ecosystems to face a lot of challenges like the persistence of residual particles of different pesticides, accretion of heavy metals, and contamination with toxic elemental particles which have negatively influenced the agricultural environment. The entry of such toxic elements into the human body via agricultural products engenders numerous health effects such as nerve and bone marrow disorders, metabolic disorders, infertility, disruption of biological functions at the cellular level, and respiratory and immunological diseases. The exigency for monitoring the agroecosystems can be appreciated by contemplating the reported 220,000 annual deaths due to toxic effects of residual pesticidal particles. The present practices employed for monitoring agroecosystems rely on techniques like gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy, etc. which have multiple constraints, being expensive, tedious with cumbersome protocol, demanding sophisticated appliances along with skilled personnel. The past couple of decades have witnessed a great expansion of the science of nanotechnology and this development has largely facilitated the development of modest, quick, and economically viable bio and nanosensors for detecting different entities contaminating the natural agroecosystems with an advantage of being innocuous to human health. The growth of nanotechnology has offered rapid development of bio and nanosensors for the detection of several composites which range from several metal ions, proteins, pesticides, to the detection of complete microorganisms. Therefore, the present review focuses on different bio and nanosensors employed for monitoring agricultural ecosystems and also trying to highlight the factor affecting their implementation from proof-of-concept to the commercialization stage.

Due to the global rise of the human population, one of the top-most challenges for poor and developing nations is to use the food produces safely and sustainably. In this regard, the storage of surplus food (and derived products) without loss of freshness, nutrient stability, shelf life, and their parallel efficient utilization will surely boost the food production sector. One of the best technologies that have emerged within the last twenty years with applications in the packaging of food and industrial materials is the use of green mode-based synthesized nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs are stable, advantageous as well as eco-friendly. Over the several years, numerous publications have confirmed that these NPs exert antibacterial, antioxidant, and antifungal activity against a plethora of pathogens. The storage in metal-based NPs (M-NPs) does not hamper the food properties and packaging efficiency. Additionally, these M-NPs help in the improvement of properties including freshness indicators, mechanical properties, antibacterial and water vapor permeability during food packaging. As a result, the nano-technological application facilitates a simple, alternate, interactive as well as reliable technology. It even provides positive feedback to food industries and packaging markets. Taken together, the current review paper is an attempt to highlight the M-NPs for prominent applications of antimicrobial properties, nanosensors, and food packaging of food items. Additionally, some comparative reports associated with M-NPs mechanism of action, risks, toxicity, and overall future perspectives have also been made.

With the advent of human civilization and anthropogenic activities in the shade of urbanization and global climate change, plants are exposed to a complex set of abiotic stresses. These stresses affect plants’ growth, development, and yield and cause enormous crop losses worldwide. In this alarming scenario of global climate conditions, plants respond to such stresses through a highly balanced and finely tuned interaction between signaling molecules. The abiotic stresses initiate the quick release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as toxic by-products of altered aerobic metabolism during different stress conditions at the cellular level. ROS includes both free oxygen radicals {superoxide (O₂^•−) and hydroxyl (OH⁻)} as well as non-radicals [hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and singlet oxygen (¹O₂)]. ROS can be generated and scavenged in different cell organelles and cytoplasm depending on the type of stimulus. At high concentrations, ROS cause lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, protein oxidation, and necrosis, but at low to moderate concentrations, they play a crucial role as secondary messengers in intracellular signaling cascades. Because of their concentration-dependent dual role, a huge number of molecules tightly control the level of ROS in cells. The plants have evolved antioxidants and scavenging machinery equipped with different enzymes to maintain the equilibrium between the production and detoxification of ROS generated during stress. In this present article, we have focused on current insights on generation and scavenging of ROS during abiotic stresses. Moreover, the article will act as a knowledge base for new and pivotal studies on ROS generation and scavenging.

Conventional agriculture solely depends upon highly chemical compounds that have negatively ill-affected the health of every living being and the entire ecosystem. Thus, the smart delivery of desired components in a sustainable manner to crop plants is the primary need to maintain soil health in the upcoming years. The premature loss of growth-promoting ingredients and their extended degradation in the soil increases the demand for reliable novel techniques. In this regard, nanotechnology has offered to revolutionize the agrotechnological area that has the imminent potential over conventional agriculture and helps to reform resilient cropping systems withholding prominent food security for the ever-growing world population. Further, in-depth investigation on plant-nanoparticles interactions creates new avenues toward crop improvement via enhanced crop yield, disease resistance, and efficient nutrient utilization. The incorporation of nanomaterial with smart agrochemical activities and establishing a new framework relevant to enhance efficacy ultimately help to address the social acceptance, potential hazards, and management issues in the future. Here, we highlight the role of nanomaterial or nanocomposite as a sustainable as well stable alternative in crop protection and production. Additionally, the information on the controlled released system, role in interaction with soil and microbiome, the promising role of nanocomposite as nanopesticide, nanoherbicide, nanofertilizer, and their limitations in agrochemical activities are discussed in the present review.