Smart Delivery Systems
In the near future, nanosensor with unique characteristics could be developed to
reform the agricultural systems as “smart.” “Smart cards” can be implanted inside
plants for optimizing productivity, resource utilization, and product traceability and
“smart machines” for attaining higher accuracy, capacity, and appropriateness of the
operations. Similarly, smart nano-micro machines can be developed to alleviate the
impacts of agriculture in the environment and ecosystems (Opara 2002). As, for
example, tiny sensors can be utilized to detect plant diseases before showing visible
symptoms and thus can be used for both prevention and early warning through
controlled or smart delivery of chemicals in a similar manner for drug delivery of
nanomedicine in humans (Khiyami et al. 2014).
The USDA has shown innovative way for developing “Smart Field System”
going beyond sensing to autonomous detections, locating, report generation, and
application of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Intel has developed nanoscale sensors and mounted motes in a vineyard in Oregon, USA, for minute-scale temperature
measurement with “proactive computing.” Similarly, Crossbow Technologies
(www.xbow.com) has developed motes which are capable for managing irrigation
water in the farm, pesticide application, detecting and warning of frost occurrence,
timing to harvest farm produce, bioremediation, and assessing of water quality. For
years, researchers are working to develop more efficient fertilizer and pesticide
delivery systems for controlled discharge of their cargo responding to various
indicators such as electromagnetic fields, moisture, heat, etc. due to the changes in
environmental conditions. Agrochemical companies like Syngenta has developed
nanoemulsion product named Primo MAXX
® plant growth regulator that increases
resistance against different stress occurrences during the crop growing period and
Karate
® ZEON, an encapsulated product that provides control against insect pests of
different crops like soybeans, cotton, rice, and peanuts.
Environmental Remediation
Environmental remediation is degradation and sequestration of pollutants. The
application of nanomaterials, i.e., nanoremediation for remediation, would be more
rapid or cost-effective. Nanoremediation (use of nanoparticles for environmental
remediation) can be used to treat ground and surface water (purification disinfection
and desalination), wastewater, soil, sediment, or other pollutants (Crane and Scott
2012) and to control air pollution. In nanoremediation, reactive nanomaterials are
used to detoxify and transform the pollutants. In this process, reactive nanoparticles
are injected into a contaminated aquifer via an injection well. The reactive
nanoparticles are carried away with groundwater to the contaminated site. When
the nanoparticles come to contact with contaminants, these can sequester through
adsorption or complexation, immobilize them, and degrade the contaminants to less
toxic and less mobile compounds. Drilling and packing of well are very expensive.
Direct push wells are less costly than drilled wells and are the most frequently used
9 Application of Nanotechnology in Agriculture
327
In the near future, nanosensor with unique characteristics could be developed to
reform the agricultural systems as “smart.” “Smart cards” can be implanted inside
plants for optimizing productivity, resource utilization, and product traceability and
“smart machines” for attaining higher accuracy, capacity, and appropriateness of the
operations. Similarly, smart nano-micro machines can be developed to alleviate the
impacts of agriculture in the environment and ecosystems (Opara 2002). As, for
example, tiny sensors can be utilized to detect plant diseases before showing visible
symptoms and thus can be used for both prevention and early warning through
controlled or smart delivery of chemicals in a similar manner for drug delivery of
nanomedicine in humans (Khiyami et al. 2014).
The USDA has shown innovative way for developing “Smart Field System”
going beyond sensing to autonomous detections, locating, report generation, and
application of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Intel has developed nanoscale sensors and mounted motes in a vineyard in Oregon, USA, for minute-scale temperature
measurement with “proactive computing.” Similarly, Crossbow Technologies
(www.xbow.com) has developed motes which are capable for managing irrigation
water in the farm, pesticide application, detecting and warning of frost occurrence,
timing to harvest farm produce, bioremediation, and assessing of water quality. For
years, researchers are working to develop more efficient fertilizer and pesticide
delivery systems for controlled discharge of their cargo responding to various
indicators such as electromagnetic fields, moisture, heat, etc. due to the changes in
environmental conditions. Agrochemical companies like Syngenta has developed
nanoemulsion product named Primo MAXX
® plant growth regulator that increases
resistance against different stress occurrences during the crop growing period and
Karate
® ZEON, an encapsulated product that provides control against insect pests of
different crops like soybeans, cotton, rice, and peanuts.
Environmental Remediation
Environmental remediation is degradation and sequestration of pollutants. The
application of nanomaterials, i.e., nanoremediation for remediation, would be more
rapid or cost-effective. Nanoremediation (use of nanoparticles for environmental
remediation) can be used to treat ground and surface water (purification disinfection
and desalination), wastewater, soil, sediment, or other pollutants (Crane and Scott
2012) and to control air pollution. In nanoremediation, reactive nanomaterials are
used to detoxify and transform the pollutants. In this process, reactive nanoparticles
are injected into a contaminated aquifer via an injection well. The reactive
nanoparticles are carried away with groundwater to the contaminated site. When
the nanoparticles come to contact with contaminants, these can sequester through
adsorption or complexation, immobilize them, and degrade the contaminants to less
toxic and less mobile compounds. Drilling and packing of well are very expensive.
Direct push wells are less costly than drilled wells and are the most frequently used
9 Application of Nanotechnology in Agriculture
327