THE ROLE OF NANO-PARTICLES IN PLANT TOLERANCE AGAINST DROUGHT STRESS: REVIEW AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE

Drought stress is a severe abiotic stress that causes huge yield losses globally.It adversely impacts crop growth and yield by negatively affecting plant functioning, nutrient acquisition, water uptake, and photosynthetic efficiency.Besides this, drought also causes oxidative and osmotic damage, severely reducing plant growth and development.Nanotechnology has emerged as an excellent field for mitigating abiotic stress in plants.Using nanoparticles (NPs) has shown promising results in mitigating the toxic impacts of abiotic stress in plants.Applying nanoparticles improves seed germination, seedling growth, nutrient and water uptake, osmolyte synthesis, and antioxidant activities, which protect plants against drought stress.They also protect the photosynthetic apparatus and cellular membranes, increase the expression of stress-responsive proteins, and bring ultra-structural changes in the plant body, which confers drought tolerance in plants.Therefore, this review discusses the different mechanisms mediated by NPs to induce drought tolerance in plants.This review also identified the different research gaps needed in future research programs.Therefore, the present review will guide readers in enhancing crop production using NPs under soaring drought intensity.