The Significance Of Nanomaterials In Enhancing Soil Microbial Communitya Short Review

Abstract

A severe threat to agricultural output and sustainability are global problems including soil erosion, contaminants, and agricultural productivity loss brought on by urbanization and agricultural expansion. Many technological advancements are being used to improve the quality of contaminated soils or purify contaminants in the soil, but they haven't been able to restore or improve the condition of the soil to the desired levels because they are expensive, impractical, or, to a lesser extent, require a lot of labour. Recent developments in nanotechnology promise to raise crop yields and soil quality indices while maintaining environmental sustainability. It has been discovered that the existence of nanomaterials (NMs) within soils may influence or enhance the efficiency of rhizosphere microbes or farming crucial microbes, allowing the access of nutrients to crops and improving the functioning of root systems as well as crop growth in general, creating up an opportunity for the enhancement of soil health. It could be useful to assess nanotechnology in order to learn more about the actual utilization of NMs for enhancing soil health.

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Journal of Advanced Zoology
ISSN: 0253-7214
Volume 44 Issue S-5 Year 2023 Page 2700-2705
The Significance Of Nanomaterials In Enhancing Soil Microbial Communitya
Short Review
Keshab Ghosh1, Shovana Pal2, Deeti Das3, Sabyasachi Ghosh4*, Aritri Laha5*
1 Student of M.Sc., Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
2 Student of M.Sc., Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
3Student of M.Sc., Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
4*Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
5*Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
*Corresponding Author. Aritri Laha Sabyasachi Ghosh
*Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University,
Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India. Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, School of Life
Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University, Barrackpore, 700012, West Bengal, India.
E-mail: aritril@svu.ac.in
Article History
Received: 30/09/2023
Revised: 15/10/2023
Accepted:30/10/2023
CC License
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Abstract
A severe threat to agricultural output and sustainability are global problems
including soil erosion, contaminants, and agricultural productivity loss
brought on by urbanization and agricultural expansion. Many technological
advancements are being used to improve the quality of contaminated soils
or purify contaminants in the soil, but they haven't been able to restore or
improve the condition of the soil to the desired levels because they are
expensive, impractical, or, to a lesser extent, require a lot of labour. Recent
developments in nanotechnology promise to raise crop yields and soil
quality indices while maintaining environmental sustainability. It has been
discovered that the existence of nanomaterials (NMs) within soils may
influence or enhance the efficiency of rhizosphere microbes or farming
crucial microbes, allowing the access of nutrients to crops and improving
the functioning of root systems as well as crop growth in general, creating
up an opportunity for the enhancement of soil health. It could be useful to
assess nanotechnology in order to learn more about the actual utilization of
NMs for enhancing soil health.
Keywords: Agricultural expansion, productivity, soil health,
nanotechnology, microbial community.
Introduction:
Unfavourable agroclimatic circumstances have the potential to worsen in the future, which will surely lead to
an increase in the number of pressures that will negatively affect the effectiveness of agriculture and soil

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quality. With a number of actions that can help in order to reduce changing conditions, the soil is a vital
component of a natural system that sustains plants and animals. Long-term food security depends on fertile
soils (Rajput et al., 2022). However, due to climate change and ineffective farming practices, food security
continues to be a major problem in many developing nations. Increasing soil productivity, enhancing
reproductive health, improving crop adaptability and tolerance, and making optimal use of agrochemicals are
only a few of the significant challenges the agriculture sector currently faces. As a result, there has been a surge
in the use of nanotechnology in agriculture over the past few years. Because it has been demonstrated that
nanomaterials (NMs) have a direct impact on soil organism productivity, if the application procedure is
optimized, they may promote plant development by enhancing the physical and chemical features of the soil.
By promoting soil enzymes, the application of nanotechnology enhanced nutrient transport and soil fertility
(Zaho et al., 2021). The relationship between NMs and bacterial colonies in the rhizosphere can improve soil
health and crop development. The usage of NMs-based goods with industrial coatings, such as nano-fertilizers,
which benefited the community of soil bacteria, is one cause of NMs' predominance in the rhizospheric region
(Chaudhary et al., 2021). Other factors include changes in the rhizospheric microbiome and plant growth, yield,
and yield quality. However, a review found that adding NMs to the soil ecosystem has an impact on the
rhizosphere's activity and soil structure (Rajput et al. 2018, Khanna et al. 2021).
Global issues like soil deterioration and contaminants brought on by urbanization and agricultural expansion
put productivity and sustainability in agriculture in danger. In order to increase soil health, technology has
failed due to expense, labour demands, and practical limitations. Opportunities to improve crop yields, soil
health, and ecological balance are presented by the development of nanotechnology. By examining them, we
can discuss more about how nanoparticles are used to enhance soil health.
Nanoparticles: Based on recent studies, nanoparticles are made of the element carbon, metal, alloys of metals,
or biological material and vary in size from one to one hundred nanometers. The nanoparticles have specific
physical, chemical, as well as biological properties. Carbon nanotubes, small fibers, and electrochemically
active fullerenes are a few recently developed and utilized incredibly sensitive biological sensors.
By enabling soil analysis, biochemical sensing, and nutrient delivery with greater mechanical strength, nano
sensors improve water management, appropriate applications, and fertilizer delivery in agriculture. The impacts
on non-target plant tissues and low levels of the chemical in the environment can be considerably reduced with
the use of target-specific nanomaterials. Because they have a larger surface area and different quantum
characteristics at this scale than their bulk counterparts, nanomaterials exhibit distinct optical, magnetic,
electrical, chemical, and other aspects.
Fig 1: Classification of Nanoparticles
Production of Nanomaterials: Diverse nanomaterials can be produced by specific synthetic processes, such
as those used to make coverings, dispersions, or combinations. It is claimed that ideal production and reaction
conditions are necessary to produce such size-dependent particle properties. However, particle size, chemical
makeup, crystallinity, and form are affected by temperature, pH level, chemical makeup concentration, and
surface modification techniques. In both fundamental research and a variety of real-world applications, these
methodologies make use of nanoparticles to investigate the unique properties of nanomaterials. The "top-down"
and "bottom-up" methods are the two basic techniques for producing nanoparticles and nanomaterials. The

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"top-down" method mechanically crushes the raw material using a milling process. In the "bottom-up" design,
structures are produced through chemical processes (Figure 2). Therefore, when selecting a particular approach,
consideration is given to the quantity of chemical makeup and the necessary characteristics of the nanoparticles
(Khan et al., 2019).
Fig 2: Procedure of Nanomaterial Production
Nanoparticles in Restoration of Soils: The nutrient cycle, carbon conversions, soil composition maintenance,
and organic-carbon mediated domains such as the fluid, solid, and volatile phases of soil have all been found
to significantly affect soil quality and functionality health. Since interactions between organisms and soil
creatures are thought to be the main factor affecting soil health, NMs app places that might boost these effects
may lead to gains in fertilization, soil health, and productivity.
It is possible to restore degraded soil by the use of a variety of cultivation methods and soil-health-
enhancing additives, which helps to build a more climate-resilient farming system by enhancing the metabolic
functions of soil microbes and animals. Major effects are caused by the soil characteristics on which crops are
cultivated. In this situation, soil stress factors that can hinder plant performance include salt, dryness, acidity,
inadequate nutrient availability, inadequate root region temperature, and soil biota functioning (Rajput et al.,
2021).
Fig 3: By bolstering root-associated microbial activities, improving nutrient cycling, and promoting plant
development under unfavorable environmental conditions by i-NF, i-DNF, and NP processes, nanotechnology
improves phytostimulation.
Nanotechnology-based Soil Microbes Management towards Improving Soil Quality: The phrase "plant
microbes" describes the total bacterial community that is found in the aerial portions of plants, including the
surfaces of the leaves (phyllosphere), the outermost layer of the roots (rhizoplane), the portion of the
rhizosphere, and the interior of the plant's mechanism, i.e., the endosphere. In order to alter the bio-
physicochemical characteristics of soil, it is preferable to combine rhizospheric bacteria, biological material in

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the soil, plant excretion from roots, and NMs. This is because the NM surface can promote nutrient
mobilization and degradation through several kinds of interconnected mechanisms.
These studies provided evidence that NMs may be used as efficient methods for reducing soil pH and improving
the movement of nutrients and soil quality. NMs can boost Phyto-stimulation by affecting food delivery,
carbohydrate, fatty acid, and amino acid synthesis, raising the generation of phytohormones, and changing the
regulation of genes, antioxidant activities, and other processes. With the aid of siderophores, some elements
including Cu, Zn, and Mn, along with mineral stages are capable of being sedimented and degraded more
quickly. Due to the high proportion of NMs and the mobilization of the siderophore during the metabolism of
the Fe-doped, the toxicity of the Fe was significantly reduced.
Nano-materials as Nano-fertilizers: Nanomaterials offer thermal stability, constrained dispersion, and
adjustable porosity for effective fertilizers in agriculture. These unique methods boost use efficiency, reduce
nitrogen loss, and minimize environmental impact as compared to conventional chemical fertilizers. Nano
fertilizers are collected from various vegetative or reproductive sections of the plant utilizing a range of
chemical, physical, mechanical, or biological procedures in order to boost soil reproducibility, efficiency, and
the quality of agricultural output. NFs, or nanoparticles, serve as carriers for conventional fertilizers and give
essential nutrients to improve agricultural plants. They improve absorption, nutrient intake, and efficiency
while reducing eutrophication-related issues including nitrogen losses. These nanoparticles are more reactive
and may permeate soil and plants more effectively due to their smaller size and higher surface area-to-volume
ratio. Degradation of soil health is caused by a number of causes, including the careless application of
agricultural inputs like fertilizer and other agricultural toxins, the decreasing supply of water supplies, and the
uneven distribution of meteorological conditions that lead to low input utilization efficiency.
Table 1: The Nanomaterials used as Nano - fertilizers
Nanomaterials
Functions
Carbon nanotubes
Germination of seed
Nano -nutrients
Plant/ animal/human nutrition
Nano pesticides
Plant protection
Nanoscale carriers
Efficient delivery of fertilizer and pesticides
Nanosensor
Detection of nutrients and contaminants
Nanotechnology in Promoting Plant Development by Decreasing Soil Toxicity: - By cultivating bicolor,
Se-based NMs, the high-temperature stress is lessened. The bacteria Brevibacterium frigoritolerans, Bacillus
thuringiensis, and Bacillus velezensis are just a few of those that have been found to reduce NaCl stress by
supplying essential nutrients through root secretion. Combining Si-Zn NMs with microorganisms that promote
plant development might lessen the detrimental impact of salt on plant development. Different variety of
instances of both abiotic and biotic challenges that can have an influence on plant performance and directly on
cultivation include salinity, compaction, pH value, improper root region temperature, access to nutrients, soil
types, and the efficiency of the soil biota (Rajput et al.,2021).
Salinity Stress: The likelihood of successful and outstanding agriculture is going down due to the rising
salinity of soils around the world. A nutritional imbalance, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and toxicity to cells
are all results of stress, which is brought on by salt excess. Plant transmembrane malfunction and cellular
metabolic inefficiency are influenced by these environmental factors. These findings suggest that agricultural
methods need to be enhanced in order to satisfy the demands of more people (Chauhan et al., 2022). The plant
will accumulate organic chemicals including glycine betaine, proteins, glucose, quaternary ammonium
compounds, as well as polymers during the process of osmoregulation, decreasing its osmotic capacity even
more. When combined with bacteria such as Brevibacterium frigoritolerans, Bacillus thuringiensis, and
Bacillus belenenses, NMs significantly increased growth metrics such as leaf-relative water content,
chlorophyll content, leaf-photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, and tuber production. Plant growth,
biological reactions, irrigation rate, intrinsic elements, and leaf abscisic acid concentrations all rose as a result.
Drought Stress: -
A significant environmental element that slows plant development and reduces plant production is drought
stress (Kumari et al., 2018). By reducing oxidative stress, increasing photosynthetic enzymatic activity, and
other factors, nano fertilizers effectively outperformed control plants (2000 mg kg1).

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Availability of Nutrients: -
Effective pesticide methods for getting into plant cells, delivered by spraying, irrigation systems, or furrow
water supply, leading to the loss of nutrients or excess nutrients, are necessary for both accurate agriculture as
well as sustainable crop yields. It has been demonstrated that using NFs enhances the bioavailability and
nutrient uptake by crop plants (Khan et al., 2017). According to studies, the capacity of zeolite-based nano
fertilizers to gradually deliver nutrition to agricultural crops increases the crop's availability of nutrients during
the growing season and reduces the elimination of nutrients due to breakdown, leaching, the removal of
n(nitrogen), and soil fixation. For the growth and nutritional availability of O. sativa, a study looked at the soil
characteristics of sandy soil, silt loam, along with silty clay loam. TiO2-based nanoparticles (NMs) increased
plant matter, diameter, and photosynthetic pigment levels; Ca, Fe, and P served as significant nutrients.
Nanomaterials
Amount
Function
CuO NM
500mg/kg
Stimulate root exudation under hydroponic feeding conditions, and increase soil pH in acidic soil.
TiO2 and Fe3O4 NM
50-200mg/kg
By bringing the pH of salinity or alkaline soil down and mobilizing nutrients, you can encourage plant
root exudation.
Fe2O3 NM
Increase microbial siderophore production.
TiO2 NM
Detect the change in the microbial population.
Se NM
Interact with the OH groups of exopolysaccharides to create fresh C-O-Se bonds, and improve
antioxidants' properties against superoxide anion radical and ABTS radical cations.
ZnO NM
100mg/kg
Boost up photosynthetic enzymatic machinery to mitigate the impact of salt stress.
SiO 2NM
Lessen the stress brought on by water storage.
Conclusion
Agrochemicals including fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides pose serious threats to the
sustainability and health of the soil. These concerns, such as residues on food products and heavy metal
contamination in water, can be decreased with proper input management and control. By affecting rhizosphere
bacteria and enhancing nutrient supply to plants and organisms, nanomaterials (NMs) can enhance soil health.
NMs can improve agricultural production and soil health by displaying root structures and crop growth. Modern
agriculture's quality and yields can be improved by the use of high-tech agricultural systems that employ
environmentally friendly, designed smart nanotools.
Possible Outcomes
This review highlights the importance of food security and health in addressing global soil health degradation.
The inclusion of microbes (microorganisms) can help clean up contaminated soils by integrating
nanotechnology (NMs) through their metabolic processes. This approach has the potential to increase soil
health and agricultural output, paving the way for novel nanotechnologies with biological and agricultural
applications.
Future Prospect
➢ In the future, nanotechnology could also enable objects to harvest energy from their environment.
➢ Nanotechnologies help to improve soil quality and food production.
➢ If we use nanotechnology in the future, we can decrease the use of chemical pesticides.
➢ It can yield a new generation of nanomembranes for the separation of soil contaminants by removing and
reducing soil contaminants.
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