Modern agriculture has entered an era of technological plateau where intervention of smarter technology like nanotechnology is imminently required for making this sector economically and environmentally sustainable. Throughout the world, researchers are trying to exploit the novel properties of several nanomaterials to make agricultural practices more efficient. Core/shell nanoparticles (CSNs) have attracted much attention because of their multiple attractive novel features like high catalytic, optical, and electronic properties for which they are being widely used in sensing, imaging, and medical applications. Though it also has the promise to solve a number of issues related to agriculture, its full potential still remains mostly unexplored. This review provides a panoramic view on application of CSNs in solving several problems related to crop production and precision farming practices where the wastage of resources can be minimized. This review also summarizes different classes of CSNs and their synthesis techniques. It emphasizes and analyzes the probable potential applications of CSNs in the field of crop improvement and crop protection, detection of plant diseases and agrochemical residues, and augmentation of chloroplast mediated photosynthesis. In a nutshell, there is enormous scope to formulate and design CSN-based smart tools for applications in agriculture, making this sector more sustainable.
Keywords: controlled release; nanosensor; nanotoxicity; photosynthesis enhancement; precision agriculture.