Correction: Crop management to enhance plant resilience to abiotic stress using nanotechnology: towards more efficient and sustainable agriculture
Year: 2025
Type: erratum
Abstract: Global food security faces unprecedented challenges, as the world population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, with nearly two billion people currently suffering from nutrient deficiencies and approximately eight hundred million experiencing chronic hunger. Nanotechnology emerges as a revolutionary approach to address these critical challenges, offering innovative solutions that could transform agricultural practices and enhance food production efficiency at the molecular level (Atanda et al., 2025).Abiotic stresses caused by non-biological environmental factors, including salinity, drought, extreme temperatures, and heavy metal contamination, significantly impact crop yield and global nutritional security, resulting in 20-50% annual global crop yield losses (Cao et al., 2025). Traditional agricultural practices have proven inadequate in effectively mitigating these mounting challenges, necessitating the exploration of cutting-edge technological interventions (Tortella et al., 2023).The integration of nanotechnology into agriculture represents a paradigm shift, leveraging the unique physicochemical properties of nanomaterials to regulate plant physiological processes, the development of nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and nanosensors that can optimize nutrient delivery, strengthen plant defense mechanisms, and enable real-time environmental monitoring for sustainable farming practices (Alnaddaf et al., 2025).Nanoparticles can be strategically introduced into plants through diverse application methods, including seed coating, root uptake, and foliar spraying (Semida et al., 2021). Once internalized, these particles translocate through the vascular system and intercellular spaces to various plant organs, with their uptake and distribution patterns varying based on nanoparticle type and plant species (Zaman et al., 2025). This targeted delivery system presents a fundamental advantage over conventional agricultural inputs, enabling controlled nutrient release with minimal quantities while maximizing crop yield and reducing environmental impact (Gupta et al., 2023).Under stress conditions, particularly drought, nanoparticles play crucial roles in maintaining nutritional balance by promoting the absorption, transport, and delivery of essential nutrients such as manganese (Mn), nitrogen (N), zinc (Zn), and potassium (K) within plant tissues (Ahmad et al., 2025).The transformative potential of nanotechnology extends beyond mere nutrient delivery. Simultaneously, minimizing stress-induced damage by improving soil quality and enhancing stress resistance mechanisms (Shoukat et al., 2025).Plants perceive abiotic stress via specific sensors located at the cell wall, plasma membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and other organelles. This stress perception leads to signal transduction pathways involving secondary messengers such as calcium ionsA (Ca +2 ), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and protein kinases, which amplify the stress signal throughout the plant. In addition, stress conditions alter the balance of endogenous plant hormones (Abdelkader et al., 2023). Abscisic acid (ABA) is especially essential for responses to drought and salinity, often mediating stomatal closure to prevent water loss (Francis et al., 2024). Other hormones, such as jasmonic acid and salicylic acid, also play distinct and sometimes combinatorial roles in stress adaptation. Moreover, a network of transcription factors (TFs), including NF-Y, WOX, WRKY, bZIP, and NAC, regulates stressresponsive genes, enabling rapid and targeted genomic adaptation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and non-coding RNAs help fine-tune gene expression in stressful environments (Juaŕez-Maldonado, 2023). Epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation and histone modification, modulate genes that enable stress tolerance. In addition, abiotic stress causes an accumulation of ROS, which can damage plant cells. Plants deploy enzymatic (e.g., superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase) and non-enzymatic (e.g., ascorbate, glutathione) antioxidants to neutralize ROS and restore cellular equilibrium (Jośko et al., 2021). As a result of being exposed to various stress factors, plants resort to a set of metabolic and physiological adjustments. These adjustments include modifying nutrient uptake and distribution to maintain a balance of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Although this balance occurred under prolonged stress, it affects growth and yield. Other adaptive strategies include accumulation of osmolytes (such as proline and sugars), modification of cell membranes, and protein stabilization processes (Khan et al., 2023).Plants can temporarily repress growth to conserve energy or reallocate resources. These changes may be reversible when stress is alleviated, or they may lead to permanent alterations in development if the stress is prolonged. Plants often face multiple stresses simultaneously, and the interaction between stress pathways can produce unique physiological responses that differ from single-stress reactions (Raliya et al., 2015). Crosstalk between hormonal pathways is central to coordinating these complex responses. Under stress, plants frequently prioritize survival mechanisms over growth, which can result in diminished yield but increased resilience. Plants' ability to sense, transduce, and respond to abiotic stress is vital for survival and agricultural productivity, especially in the context of climate change and global food security. Understanding and enhancing these mechanisms remain a key focus of plant science and crop improvement research (Thiruvengadam et al., 2024).Nanotechnology and plant stress are closely connected through the development and application of nanoscale materials and sensors that help detect, manage, and enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stress via two main points:Detection and Monitoring: Nano-enabled biosensors and nanobiosensors allow the rapid, sensitive, and real-time detection of plant stress signals, including disease biomarkers, toxins, heavy metals, or stress-related signaling molecules, well before visible symptoms appear. 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Source: Frontiers in Plant Science
Institutions: King Faisal University, Homs University
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Funder: King Faisal University
OpenAlex ID: W4416986660