Nanotechnological Approach for Sustainable Agriculture—Plant Health Monitoring and Efficient Delivery to Plant System

Nanotechnology is an important driver in the agri-tech revolution. It promises more sustainable and efficient agricultural systems by providing methods for managing stress and delivering necessary inputs more efficiently. This presentation will discuss plant health monitoring nanosensors and briefly introduce our current efforts to enhance plant engineering efficiency at the end. Plants produce chemicals to activate defense systems when they encounter stress. Therefore, identifying these stress-related plant endogenous molecules can help us recognize stress conditions and develop strategies to prevent disease development through timely management. Recently, we have developed a nanosensor platform for the optical monitoring of stress-related plant molecules in living plants. The sensor can detect the onset and type of plant stress in real time using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technology. By attracting plant signaling molecules to the silver nanoshell surface using polymers, the sensor enhances Raman scattering of the analytes by more than 10⁷ times. The nanosensor was designed to be placed in a specific location depending on the plant signals being monitored, and it can be adjusted to be optically active in the near-infrared region to minimize interference from plant chlorophyll fluorescence. Under abiotic or biotic stress, the nanosensor can successfully monitor multiple stress-related molecules, indicating the possible onset of plant stress. This plasmonic nanoprobe platform will guide us in understanding plant signaling better under various environmental stresses and contribute to sustainable agriculture through improved management practices.