Bionanomaterials-mediated seed priming for sustainable agricultural production

The exponential rise in population has led to rapid demand for food. However, crop production has not increased at a parallel pace. Hence, the primary goal of sustainable agriculture is to promote and increase the efficiency of agricultural approaches with less input and increase crop yield. Nanotechnology holds tremendous potential to revolutionize the agriculture system. It plays a crucial role in crop production due to biochemical variability, nontoxic phytochemical materials, nonpathogenicity, affordable prices, and flexible reactions with synthetic chemicals. Rapid and uniform germination and seedling emergence are critical aspects of efficiently creating and maintaining a plant stand. Seeds stored under dry conditions undergo degradation and eventually lose their viability in long-term storage due to spontaneous, cell-level biochemical damage, resulting in natural seed aging and ultimately affecting seed quality. Quality seeds seemed extremely helpful for seed production/crop productivity and may withstand environmental stress tolerance. Bionanomaterials include seed pretreatment substances for germination percentage, seedling growth, and stress resistance in several crop species. Thus, nanopriming is an attractive approach to seed quality improvement without drying seeds. This chapter summarizes the recent applications of bionanomaterials as eco-friendly nanopriming agents to enhance seed germination and quality for sustainable agricultural practices and agriseed industries.