Microbial-Derived Nanoparticles for Stress-Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture

The limitations of physical and chemical approaches are overcome by the biological synthesis of nanoparticles. Microbes including bacteria, fungi, yeast, actinomycetes, and algae are employed in the synthesis process. Microbially generated nanoparticles are useful in several industries, for instance, electronics, medical, food production, agriculture, and the environment. When it comes to agriculture, environmental changes have had a significant impact on crop productivity worldwide. Abiotic stressors like heat, cold, salinity, drought, UV radiation, and heavy metals, as well as biotic stressors like bacteria, weeds, parasites, insects, and fungi, are having a detrimental effect on crop growth and development. It is believed that nanotechnologies are powerful in crop development aimed at increasing stress resilience and yield. It has been documented that microbially produced nanoparticles can mitigate the effects of stress and encourage plant development in stressful environments. To give crop plants stress tolerance or to create smarter crops that can tolerate stress situations with minimal produce losses, various kinds of nanoparticles, such as metal and carbon-based nanoparticles produced through the aid of microbes, are well investigated. Therefore, the synthesis of different nanoparticles by microbes and their contemporary uses in agriculture for stress resistance and sustainable agriculture are the main topics of this chapter.