This is a seminar paper presentation by Md. Parvez Kabir, an MS Student, Department of Soil Science of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) as for the requirement of completing an MS degree.

1. Presented By:
Md. Parvez Kabir
MS Student
Reg. no.: 14-05-3218
Department of Soil Science
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University
Salna, Gazipur- 1706.
Nano-fertilizer for Smart Agriculture

2. LAYOUT OF THE PRESENTATION
2
Introduction
Objectives
Approaches to the preparation
Review of findings
Summary
Conclusions

3. Introduction
During 1970s, first green revolution targeted four basic
components-
semi-dwarf high yielding varieties of rice and wheat,
extensive use of irrigation,
fertilizers and
agro-chemicals
Therefore, crop production increased terrifically.
3

4. 4
 Nano technology first defined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974
 Nanotech is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic or
molecular scale
 Nano technology manages structure in the size range between
1-100 nm
Continued…

5. 5
Worlds agriculture is now facing a lot of challenges viz.
 static crop yields,
 low nutrient use efficiency,
 declining soil organic matter,
 multi-nutrient deficiencies,
 shrinking arable land, water availability, and
 shortage of labor, etc.
Continued…

6. 6
 For this, Nanotechnology, planning ultra-small particles having
exceptional properties
 Now, it becomes an emerging and promising strategy to increase
crop productivity (Raliya et al., 2017).
 This idea is the part of evolving science of precision farming and
 Precision farming makes agriculture more sustainable
Continued…

7. 7
In agriculture, nanotechnology are being used for various
purposes. For example:
 nanoscale sensors for sensing nutrients, pesticides,
 target conveyance of biomolecules
 nutrient recovery, and
 smart fertilizers and their efficient delivery
But this review paper specially focused on nanotechnology for
smart fertilization.
Continued…

8. Farmers typically apply fertilizers through soil by-
 surface broadcasting,
 subsurface placement, or
 mixing with irrigation water
However, a large portion of applied fertilizers are lost to the
atmosphere or surface water bodies and pollutes the environments
8
Continued…

9.  Today, worldwide fertilizer application is increasing, along
with increasing global population
 Now, farmers are using nearly 85% of the world’s total mined
phosphorus as fertilizer
 But plants can uptake only about 42% of the supplied
phosphorus (Raliya et al., 2017).
 If this scenario persists, the world’s supply of phosphorus could
run out within the next 80 years, affecting agricultural
productivity (Dawson et al., 2011).
9
Continued…

10.  Now a days, organic farming is become popular specially in
developed countries
 Some crops also grown under artificial conditions using
hydroponic techniques,
 But the cost (in energy and Tk.) is nearly 10 times that of
conventional agriculture
 So, these are neither affordable nor sustainable for the future
agriculture (Pimentel and Wilson, 2004).
10
Continued…

11. Thus, nano-fertilization is considered as an emerging tool for
minimizing the problems regarding to the crop production
But, there is a huge knowledge gap concerning the nano-fertilizer
Based on the above mentioned background the present study
emphasizes on the following objectives-
11
Continued…

12.  To highlight the fundamental and applied aspect of nano-
fertilizers for precision agriculture and
 To highlight the impact of nano-fertilizers on nutrient use
efficiency and crop productivity.
12
Objectives

13. APPROACHES TO THE PREPARATION
13
 This paper is exclusively Review Paper
 All Information were collected from secondary sources
 Various Books, Journals
 Articles, Reports, Proceedings
 Internet Browsing
 Valuable information and suggestions were taken from
major professor and course instructors.
Compiled and arranged chronologically.

14. REVIEW OF FINDINGS
14

15.  A nano-particle (or nano-powder or nanocluster or nanocrystal)
is a small particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm.
1 Nanometer = 10-9 m = 1 billionth of a meter
There are 2,54,00000 nanometers in an inch
15
What is Nanoparticle?

16. 16
(Source: Qureshi et al., 2018)
Continued..
Figure1. The size of nanoparticles

17. • Morphology-aspect ratio/size
• Hydrophilic
• Surface area-roughness/porosity
• High solubility
• Surface species- quick adsorption
• Capacity to produce ROS
• Structure/composition
• Surface charge
• Competitive binding sites with
receptor
• Dispersion/aggregation
Figure 2. The properties of nanoparticles
(Source: Manjunatha et al., 2016)
Properties of Nano-particle
17

18.  Synthesized form of traditional fertilizer
 Sometime extracted from different plant parts
 Following different methods of nanotechnology
 Helps to increase soil fertility and productivity
18
What is Nano-fertilizer?

19. Nano-fertilizers are advantageous over conventional fertilizers. They-
enhance soil fertility, yield and quality parameters of the crops
improves the nutritional content of crops and the quality of the taste
non-toxic and less harmful to the ecosystem
increases nutrients use efficiency and reduces the costs of
environmental protection
The basic comparison has been shown in the following Table 1 19
Why farmer use Nano-fertilizer rather than
Traditional Fertilizers?

20. Properties Nano-fertilizer Conventional Fertilizer
Solubility Highly soluble in aqueous solution just after
application
Exhibit less solubility
Nutrient
uptake
efficiency
Increase fertilizer use efficiency and nutrients
uptake thus, save fertilizers
Not available at a time thus, decrease
efficiency
Controlled
release modes
Present Absent
Effective
duration of
nutrient
release
Capability to extend duration of nutrient release
from fertilizer
Plants can only use it just after the
application, the rest is gone for
conversion or fixation
Loss rate of
nutrients
Reduce the loss of fertilizer High nutrient loss by leaching, run off,
and drift
20
Table1. Comparison of nanotechnology-based formulations and conventional
fertilizers applications
(Source: Cui et al., 2010)

21. 21
27
75
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Conventional Nanofertilizer
%Nuseefficiency
Figure 3. Nitrogen use efficiency (%) of conventional and nano-fertilizer on pearl
millet
(Source: Somasundaran et al., 2010)
Continued..

22. 22
Smart Nutrient Delivery System
The “smart delivery systems” of nano-fertilizer for agriculture
possess-
 pre-programmed,
 self-regulated,
 remotely regulated,
 timely controlled,
 spatially targeted,
 multifunctional characteristics.

23. 23
Figure 4. Smart Delivery System of Nano-fertilizer
(Source: Morales-Díaz et al., 2017)
Continued..

24. 24
Effect of nano-fertilizer on nutrient use efficiency (NUE)
 Nano-fertilizers exhibit a higher surface area due to its minute
particle size
 High solubility in different solvent such as water
 Highly reactive with other compounds which facilitate the
different metabolic process on plants
 Capability to penetrate on plants from applied surface such as soil
or leaves
 Porous leaf or root system easily uptake this nutrients
 Thus, it improves the uptake and nutrient use efficiency in plants.

25. 25
% P Use Efficiency,
SSP, 15.1
% P Use Efficiency,
KH2PO4, 29.8
% P Use Efficiency,
Nano P, 57.8
%PUseEfficiency
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Figure 5. Comparison of P use efficiency of Single Super Phosphate (SSP),
Soluble P (KH2PO4) and Nano-P on cluster bean
(Source: Tarafdar et al., 2015)
Continued..

26. 26
Nano-fertilizer increases enzymatic activities and organic acid
concentration in the Rhizosphere
 Microbial activities are higher in the rhizosphere rather than others in the
soil
 Plant root secretes some exudates and microbes take these as a food
 When nano-fertilizers are applied, both plants and microbes easily
assimilate these without any modifications and accelerate their growth and
population
 These huge number of microbes produce huge amount of hormones,
organic acids (Table 3) and plant growth promoting enzymes (Table 4)
which increase mineralization of soil.

27. 27
Table 3. Percent (%) enhancement of organic acid concentration in the
rhizosphere and P uptake on the following crops
Crops Organic acid concentration P Uptake
Cluster bean 23.2 27.2
Moth bean 19.5 23.5
Mung bean 20.7 22.7
Pearl millet 15.5 17.3
*Nano-P application @ 640 mg ha-1
(Source: Tarafdar et al., 2015)

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Table 4. Application of nano-fertilizer increases PGP enzymatic
activities in the rhizosphere
Beneficial Enzymes Percent (%)increase in activity
Dehydrogenase 25-68
Esterase 23-90
Acid phosphatase 21-72
Alkaline phosphatase 18-136
Phytase 23-83
Nitrate reductase 12-47
Aryl sulphatase 19-68
Cellulase 48-243
Hemi-cellulase 37-115
(Source: Tarafdar et al., 2015)

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Seeds germination and growth parameters of the plant
 Nano-fertilizers play a significant role on the seed germination and
seedlings vigor
 Nano-fertilizers easily penetrate the epidermis of the seed
 As a result, young seedlings get enough available nutrients for their
growth and development, thus it helps to increase the yield later on
 Sometimes it may exhibit inhibitory effects due to excessive amounts
of nano-fertilizers application.

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Table 5. Positive effects of nano-fertilizers on plant
SL.
No.
Nano-
particles
Effects Plants References
1 Al Improved root growth Raphanus sativus Lin and Xing,
2007.
2 TiO2 Increased shoot and seedling
lengths
Triticum aestivum
L. var. Pishtaz
Feizi et al., 2012.
3 Ag Enhanced plant growth and
diosgenin synthesis
Trigonella foenum-
graecum
L.
Jasim et al., 2017.
4 ZnO Improved growth and yield Arachis hypogaea Prasad et al., 2012.
5 SiO2 Improved seed germination Lycopersicum
esculentum Mill
Siddiqui and Al-
Whaibi, 2014.
(Source: Duhan et al., 2017)

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Table 6. Adverse effects of nano-fertilizers on plants
SL.
No.
Nanoparticles Effects Plants References
1. TiO2 Inhibition in cell growth and
nitrogen fixation activity
Anabaena variabilis Cherchi and Gu,
2010.
2. Al Reduced root length Lactuca sativa Lin and Xing,
2007.
3. Ag Reduced transpiration Cucurbita pepo Stampoulis et
al., 2009.
4. Cu Reduced biomass and root
Growth
Cucurbita pepo Stampoulis et
al., 2009.
5. Al2O3 Reduced root length Zea mays Lin and Xing,
2007.
(Source: Duhan et al., 2017)

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Yield and yield parameters
 Nano fertilizers increase the seed germination, vigor, growth
parameters (plant height, leaf area, leaf area index, number of
leaves per plant) dry matter production, chlorophyll production,
rate of the photosynthesis, etc.
 These result in more production and translocation of photosynthets
to different parts of the plant
 Thus, the crop produces higher yields.

33. 20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Rootlength(cm/plant)
(b)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
C
NPK10
NPK25
NPK100
Nano10
Nano25
Nano100
C
NPK10
NPK25
NPK100
Nano10
Nano25
Nano100
Shootlength(cm/plant)
C
NPK10
NPK25
NPK100
Nano10
Nano25
Nano100
Freshweight(g/plant)
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
C
NPK10
NPK25
NPK100
Nano10
Nano25
Nano100
Dryweight(g/plant)
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.5
0
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Treatments Treatments
Treatments Treatments
Figure 6. The effect of traditional and nanofertilizers on (a) root length, (b) shoot length, (c) fresh weight, (d) dry
weight of wheat plants grown on sandy soil at 46 and 71 days after sowing
(Source: Abdel-Aziz et al., 2016)
46 d 71 d
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Cost of Cultivation
Table 7. A comparison of cost of cultivation of Nano-P with SSP and DAP for pearl millet
 Generally,the cost of cultivation due to application of nano-fertilizers is 2-6 times
less as compared to application of chemical fertilizer for equivalent yield of the
crops (Tarafdar et al., 2015).
Name of the Fertilizer Recommended
Doses
Cost of Cultivation
(Tk./ha)
Yield Status
(Kg/ha)
Single Super Phosphate
(SSP)
80 Kg/ha ~770 950
Diammonium Phosphate
(DAP)
80 Kg/ha ~2400 960
Nano-P 720 mg/ha 425 1090
(Source: Tarafdar et al., 2015)

35. • Low productivity
• Stress and
disease sensitive
• Nutritional
deficiency
• Poor soil biological
health
• Low native nutrient
mobilization
• Low microbial
diversity
• Low production
rate with respect
to demand
• Nutritive food
• Bio-fertilizer
may cause
pathogenic sign
• Improves soil
biological health
• High production rate
• Bioaccumulation of harmful
fertilizer byproduct
• Affect natural resources
• Decreases nutritional quality
• Demolish soil biological
health
• Eutrophication
• Low microbial diversity
• Enhance soil biological health
• More microbial diversity
• Enhance native nutrient mobilization
• Reduce demand of fertilizer
• High production
• More nutritious food
• Save natural resources
• Sustainable
Summary
Figure 7. Comparative analysis of possible pros and cons of the conventional approach
with respect to nanotechnology-mediated agriculture production
(Source: Raliya et al., 2017)
36

36. 36
Conclusions
 Worlds agriculture is now facing a lot of problems
 It creates scarcity in water resources and arable lands
 The development of agriculture sector is only possible by
accelerating the resource use efficiency with the minimum reduction
to the yield through effective utilization of modern technologies.
 For this, nano-fertilizers are very effective for precise nutrient
management in agricultural sector.

37. 37
 Nano-fertilizers have the capability to increase nutrient use
efficiency, minimize soil toxicity, reduce the potential negative
effects associated with over dosage and frequency of the application
as well as the cost of production.
 As nano-fertilizer exhibits a large surface area with minute size, it
can easily translocate and uptake by plants and producing more
photosynthate, dry matter ultimately increases the yield of a crop.
 Thus, nano-fertilizers become more potential for achieving
sustainable agriculture, especially in developing countries.
Continued…

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