3D-Printed Precision Agriculture Platform: Integrating Nanoparticle-Based Engineered Release of Micronutrients to Enhance Growth and Productivity of Wheat Plants

The unprecedented use of conventional, commercial fertilizers has degraded soil health and enhanced aquatic pollution, and is inefficient in improving crop yield and productivity, suggesting the need for environmentally friendly alternatives. The current work entails the fabrication of customizable 3D-printed nanoparticle (NPs)-based micronutrient-releasing systems designed for improving plant growth parameters, nutritional aspects, and productivity. A 3D-printed precision agriculture platform was designed with various nanoparticles embedded in a gelatin matrix with engineered release profiles through a varied degree of cross-linking (0.2-1% cross-linker). The developed systems present a relatively faster release of Zn and relatively slow release of Fe and Mn nanoparticles, respectively, targeting various growth stages in wheat plants (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>). 3D-printed micronutrient fertilizers (MnFts) showed an improved swelling of 340%, with high water retention until 24 h, and slow, sustained release of micronutrients such as Mn, Fe, and Zn NPs for 7 days in aqueous media and 15 days in the soil medium. In this study, 3D-printed MnFts show enhancement in various growth stages of wheat plants (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>) (14.2% shoot length, 40.7% root length, 27.3% chlorophyll content, and 40% root volume increase), grain characteristics (∼50% more grains), total proteins (35.5% increase), pigments (32.3% increase), antioxidant enzymes (40.2% increase), and NPs content in roots, grain, and shoots. The pre- and post-treatment of the soil with 3D-printed MnFts did not affect the inherent soil microbial communities, suggesting the released Mn, Fe, and Zn NPs and degraded 3D-printed structures are nontoxic. The customizable 3D-printed structures with an engineered release profile of micronutrients targeting different growth stages of plants improve plant productivity and show no toxicity toward the soil microbial community, suggesting its potential for scalable adaptation in replacing conventional fertilizers for sustainable agriculture and environments.