Nanotechnology monitors a leading agricultural controlling process, especially by its miniature dimension. The application of nanotechnology to agriculture and food industries is resonant increased encumbrance because of the potential benefits ranging from enhanced food quality, safety to reduced agricultural inputs and enriched absorbing nanoscale nutrients from the soil. Agriculture, food and natural resources are a part of those challenges like sustainability, susceptibility, human health and healthy life. The ambition of nanomaterials in agriculture is to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and increased yield through pest and nutrient management. Nanotechnology has the prospective to improve the agriculture and food industry with novel nanotools for the controlling of rapid disease diagnostic, enhancing the capacity of plants to absorb nutrients among others. The significant interest of using nanotechnology in agriculture includes specific applications like nanofertilizers and nanopesticides to trail products and nutrients levels to increase the productivity without decontamination of soils, waters and protection against several insect pest and microbial diseases. Nanotechnology may act as sensors for monitoring soil quality of agricultural field and thus it maintain the health of agricultural plants.This study provides a review of the current challenges of sustainability, food security and climate change that are exploring by the researchers in the area of nanotechnology in the improvement of agriculture.

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Nanotechnology in Sustainable Agriculture: Recent Developments, Challenges, and Perspectives.

The application of nanotechnology in pesticide delivery is relatively new and in the early stages of development. This technology aims to reduce the indiscriminate use of conventional pesticides and ensure their safe application. This critical review investigated the potential of nanotechnology, especially the nanoencapsulation process for pesticide delivery. In-depth investigation of various nanoencapsulation materials and techniques, efficacy of application, and current research trends are also presented. The focus of ongoing research was on the development of a nanoencapsulated pesticide formulation that has slow releasing properties with enhanced solubility, permeability, and stability. These properties are mainly achieved through either protecting the encapsulated active ingredients from premature degradation or increasing their pest control efficacy for a longer period. Nanoencapsulated pesticide formulation is able to reduce the dosage of pesticides and human exposure to them, which is environmenta...

Nanoencapsulation, Nano-guard for Pesticides: A New Window for Safe Application

Background Quercetin, one of the most well-known flavonoids, has been included in human diet for a long history. The use of quercetin has been widely associated with a great number of health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anticancer as well as the function to ease some cardiovascular diseases (i.e., heart disease, hypertension, and high blood cholesterol). However, poor water solubility, chemical instability and low bioavailability of quercetin greatly limit its applications. Utilization of delivery systems can improve its stability, efficacy and bioavailability. Scope and approach In this review, biological activities, chemical stability, metabolism and toxicity of quercetin and different delivery systems for quercetin were discussed. Key findings and conclusions Quercetin digested in human body (e.g., mouth, small intestine, liver, kidneys) undergoes glucuronidation, sulfation or methylation. During the food processing and storage, many factors such as heat, pH, metal ions, could affect the chemical stability (including oxidation and degradation) of quercetin. Utilization of delivery systems including lipid-based carriers, nanoparticles, inclusion complexes, micelles and conjugates-based encapsulation has the potential to improve both the stability and bioavailability and thus health benefits of quercetin. Each delivery system has its unique advantages and shortcomings, and the specific selection should be based on the application domains. Moreover, the exploration of natural food-grade ingredients as main compositions of delivery systems for quercetin might be required in the future.

The biological activities, chemical stability, metabolism and delivery systems of quercetin: A review

Electrohydrodynamic processes namely electrospinning and electrospraying are facile, cost effective and flexible methods that utilize electrically charged jet of polymer solution for production of fibers or particles at micron, submicron and nanoscale. The electrospun fibers and electrosprayed particles possess many structural and functional advantages. However, their use in the field of food processing and preservation remains less explored. This review provides a succinct discussion on the potential food based applications of electrospinning and electrospraying techniques such as encapsulation, enzyme immobilization, food coating and development of materials for filtration and active food packaging. Further, the existing limitations and scope for future research are underscored.

Electrospinning and electrospraying techniques: Potential food based applications

Utilization of bacterial cellulose in food

The protection and controlled release of bioactive compounds at the right time and the right place can be implemented by encapsulation. Nanoencapsulation remains to be the one of the most promising technologies having the feasibility to entrap bioactive compounds. Nanoencapsulation of bioactive compounds has versatile advantages for targeted site-specific delivery and efficient absorption through cells. However, researches in the application of nanotechnology in the food industry have been very limited and there are only a few review articles that explored the nanoencapsulation technology. This review focuses on the various nanoencapsulation techniques such as emulsification, coacervation, inclusion, complexation nanoprecipitation, emulsification–solvent evaporation, and supercritical fluid for food ingredients. Drying techniques such as spray drying and freeze drying for stabilization of nanoparticles are also discussed. Current state of knowledge, limitations of these techniques, and recent trends are also discussed. Finally, safety and regulatory issues in the nanoencapsulation of bioactive compounds are also highlighted.

Nanoencapsulation Techniques for Food Bioactive Components: A Review

Green tea polyphenols are potential antioxidants, anti-carcinogenic and effective against various degenerative disorders. Polyphenols are more sensitive to high temperature and alkaline pH. To improve the stability of polyphenols, green tea extract was microencapsulated by freeze drying and spray drying technique using three different wall materials such as maltodextrin (MD), β-cyclodextrin (CD) and combination of both (MD + CD). Freeze dried encapsulates exhibited higher encapsulation efficiency (60–76%) and antioxidant activity (IC50 value 54.77–60.26 μg/ml) than spray dried encapsulates. Comparatively, MD encapsulates had higher encapsulation efficiency and antioxidant activity than other encapsulates. Hence spray dried and freeze dried MD encapsulates were incorporated into bread and evaluated for their quality characteristics. Green tea extract and encapsulates incorporated bread retained their quality in terms of volume and crumb firmness and almost similar to control. Moreover, there was not much significant difference on total polyphenol content of green tea extract and microencapsulates incorporated breads.

Microencapsulation of green tea polyphenols and its effect on incorporated bread quality

Freeze drying technique for microencapsulation of Garcinia fruit extract and its effect on bread quality

Food grade nanoemulsions are being increasingly used in the food sector for their physico-chemical properties towards efficient encapsulation, entrapment of bioactive compounds, solubilization, targeted delivery, and bioavailability. Nanoemulsions are considered as one of the important vehicles for the sustained release of food bioactive compounds due to their smaller size (nm), increased surface area, and unique morphological characteristics. Nanoemulsification is an ideal technique for fabricating the bioactive compounds in a nano form. Formation and stabilization of nanoemulsion depends on the physi-cochemical characteristics of its constituents including oil phase, aqueous phase, and emulsifiers. This review is mainly focused on the instability mechanisms of nanoemulsion such as flocculation, Ostwald ripening, creaming, phase separation, coalescence, and sedimentation. Further, the major factors associated with these instability mechanisms like ionic strength, temperature, solubilization, particle size distribution, particle charge, pH strength, acid stability, and heat treatment are also discussed. Finally, safety issues of food grade nanoemulsions are highlighted.

P. N. Ezhilarasi

Papers

Nanoencapsulation Techniques for Food Bioactive Components: A Review

Microencapsulation of green tea polyphenols and its effect on incorporated bread quality

Freeze drying technique for microencapsulation of Garcinia fruit extract and its effect on bread quality

Challenges associated in stability of food grade nanoemulsions

Green and eco-friendly approaches for the extraction of chitin and chitosan: A review.