Bio-nanocomposites for modern agricultural applications

Abstract

Agriculture represents one of the most important human activities in the world. Currently, the agriculturalsystem deals with multiple challenges, including population growth, dietary choices, technological progress,climate change, and sustainability. In order to overcome these challenges, many agricultural applications have emerged to enhance productivity andyield of crops: greenhouses, tunnels, mulch, and silage. All of them consist of polymeric films that are placed to increase moisture and temperature and prevent weed growth, and, consequently, they allow less dependence onagrochemicals. The polymer used for these agricultural practices is polyethylene (PE), a nonbiodegradable andnonrenewable material derived from petroleum. Despite their appropriate mechanical and radiometric properties,PE has several environmental disadvantages.The combination of nanotechnology and biopolymers could represent a potential solution to ensureenvironmental safety, replacing PE with bio-nanocomposites. When bio-based polymers are combined withnanofillers, the resulting bio-nanocomposites exhibit improvements in mechanical, thermal, and barrierproperties. Bio-nanocomposites can provide controlled release (CR) of agrochemicals, while efficientlyimproving permeability, stability, and solubility. The use of biodegradable nanomaterials in agriculturalpractices can promote sustainable and eco-friendly cultivation reducing soil, water, and air pollution and theindiscriminate use of agrochemicals.Until now, the commercialization of nanotechnology-based agroformulations has been limited and related toseveral issues: nanotoxicity, government regulation, public knowledge, and production costs.This work highlights the promising application of bio-nanocomposites from organic origin for sustainabledevelopment in agriculture applications, in particular chitosan-based nanocomposites, and analyzes theircommercial insertion as CR systems for agrochemicals and the limits of their commercialization.