Agriculture and Nanoparticles by Heartsound Audio
Nanotechnology is currently being used to control the release of medicine to specific cells in the body. Research has made public the idea that the same technology could be applied to agriculture to combat the current global food crisis.
In a Review in Nature Technology, scientists at UC Riverside and Carnegie Mellon Suggest the best policy for improving agriculture with nanotechnology.
Scientist and researchers have had a difficult time transferring Nanotech to Plant science, specifically on a large scale.
In the review, researchers discuss similarities to medicine that could be used for pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide delivery.
“We are pioneering targeted delivery Technologies based on coating nanomaterials with sugars or peptides that recognize specific proteins on plant cells or organelles.” Reports Juan Pablo Giraldo. “ This allows us to take the existing molecular machinery of the plant and guide desired chemicals to where the plant needs it, for example: the plant vasculature, Organelles or sites of plant pathogen infections.”
This type of delivery is a much greener approach. Nearly half of all fertilizer currently applied on farms is lost to the environment, which can pollute groundwater. It is reported that less than 10% of fertilizers ever reach their given targets!
More Research must be created to ensure proper joining of agriculture and technology!

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