Green Nanotechnology for Mitigating Heavy Metals Stress in Plants

Modern industrialization has led to heavy metal pollution which has become a significant concern in recent decades. Heavy metal contamination poses a significant threat to plant health and agricultural productivity by degrading soil quality, necessitating innovative solutions to mitigate its adverse effects. Heavy metals significantly disrupt plant metabolism by interfering with essential cellular biomolecules, leading to severely reduced crop yields. Recently, nanotechnology has emerged as an efficient and promising approach for heavy metals stress mitigation in plants. Nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized through green synthesis methods, have unique physico-chemical properties such as nanoscale size, high surface area, enhanced reactivity, targeted interaction with heavy metals, their immobilization and transformation, proved as an effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable approach to alleviate toxicity and stress imposed by heavy metals in plants. NPs can enhance antioxidant enzyme activities, reduce oxidative stress, and methylglyoxal detoxification, improve photosynthetic efficiency, respiration rate, and stomatal conductance, and produce tolerance in plants under Modern industrialization has led to heavy metal pollution which has become a significant concern in recent decades. Heavy metal contamination poses a significant threat to plant health and agricultural productivity by degrading soil quality, necessitating innovative solutions to mitigate its adverse effects. Heavy metals significantly disrupt plant metabolism by interfering with essential cellular biomolecules, leading to severely reduced crop yields. Recently, nanotechnology has emerged as an efficient and promising approach for heavy metals stress mitigation in plants. Nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized through green synthesis methods, have unique physico-chemical properties such as nanoscale size, high surface area, enhanced reactivity, targeted interaction with heavy metals, their immobilization and transformation, proved as an effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable approach to alleviate toxicity and stress imposed by heavy metals in plants. NPs can enhance antioxidant enzyme activities, reduce oxidative stress, and methylglyoxal detoxification, improve photosynthetic efficiency, respiration rate, and stomatal conductance, and produce tolerance in plants under