In a dramatic breakthrough, Indian scientists have found that synthetically engineered nanoparticles comprising iron and sulphur and modelled on the natural ones that sustain life at the bottom of oceans can boost crop yields and be the future of sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture. Nanoparticles are thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair.
The projected global population will be approximately nine billion by 2050. To provide healthy nutrition to this population, agricultural production will have to increase by about 60 percent.
For answers, Indian experts have turned to the ocean and molecules that date to the origin of life on earth.
Deep down on the ocean floor, where oxygen is deficient, iron pyrite (iron and sulphur) nanoparticles spewed by hydrothermal vents - fissures - have been the source of energy for bacteria and tiny plants since time immemorial.
With these nano-factories as their inspiration, scientists have come up with an innovative way to use pyrite nanoparticles in agriculture as an agent for seed treatment to sort of "dress up" seeds prior to sowing.
