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Review
. 2022 Apr 18;12(4):594.
doi: 10.3390/life12040594.

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Their Biosynthesis: Overview

Hareb Al Jabri  1   2 , Muhammad Hamzah Saleem  3 , Muhammad Rizwan  3 , Iqbal Hussain  4 , Kamal Usman  5 , Mohammed Alsafran  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Their Biosynthesis: Overview

Hareb Al Jabri et al. Life (Basel). .

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is plant micronutrient, which is involved in many physiological functions, and an inadequate supply will reduce crop yields. Its deficiency is the widest spread micronutrient deficiency problem; almost all crops and calcareous, sandy soils, as well as peat soils and soils with high phosphorus and silicon content are expected to be deficient. In addition, Zn is essential for growth in animals, human beings, and plants; it is vital to crop nutrition as it is required in various enzymatic reactions, metabolic processes, and oxidation reduction reactions. Finally, there is a lot of attention on the Zn nanoparticles (NPs) due to our understanding of different forms of Zn, as well as its uptake and integration in the plants, which could be the primary step toward the larger use of NPs of Zn in agriculture. Nanotechnology application in agriculture has been increasing over recent years and constitutes a valuable tool in reaching the goal of sustainable food production worldwide. A wide array of nanomaterials has been used to develop strategies of delivery of bioactive compounds aimed at boosting the production and protection of crops. ZnO-NPs, a multifunctional material with distinct properties and their doped counterparts, were widely being studied in different fields of science. However, its application in environmental waste treatment and many other managements, such as remediation, is starting to gain attention due to its low cost and high productivity. Nano-agrochemicals are a combination of nanotechnology with agrochemicals that have resulted in nano-fertilizers, nano-herbicides, nano-fungicides, nano-pesticides, and nano-insecticides being developed. They have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and optical capabilities. Green approaches using plants, fungi, bacteria, and algae have been implemented due to the high rate of harmful chemicals and severe situations used in the manufacturing of the NPs. This review summarizes the data on Zn interaction with plants and contributes towards the knowledge of Zn NPs and its impact on plants.

Keywords: agricultural system; artificial chemicals; elements; nanoparticles; plant growth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sources of Zn (nutritional form for plants) from different environment sources.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance induced by the application of Zn. Zn application improves the antioxidant activities, increases osmolyte accumulation, hormonal cross talk and cell signaling, which, in turn, improve membrane stability and physiological processes, including water uptake and ROS scavenging.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Interaction of Zn with other micronutrients in the soil.
Figure 4
Figure 4
ZnO-NPs in soil and their uptake.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Green Synthesis of ZnO-NPs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles on plant growth.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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