Summary
This narrative review examines zinc oxide nanoparticles as a novel intervention for mitigating abiotic stress in crops affected by climate change-induced drought, heat, salinity, and heavy metal pollution. The authors synthesise evidence that ZnO-NPs enhance key physiological processes and activate antioxidant defence systems through gene regulation, with reported benefits for yield and nutritional quality across cereals, legumes, and horticultural crops. The review acknowledges significant challenges in scaling validation to uncontrolled field environments.
Regional applicability
The findings are globally relevant to United Kingdom agriculture, particularly given increasing summer drought and salinity issues in some regions. However, the technology remains largely at experimental scale, and validation under temperate, variable British growing conditions would be necessary before practical adoption.
Key measures
Photosynthetic efficiency, osmotic regulation, ionic homeostasis, antioxidant defence system activation, gene expression under stress conditions, crop yield, nutritional content, stress resistance levels
Outcomes reported
The review synthesises evidence on how zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) enhance physiological and molecular stress responses in crops under abiotic stress conditions. It reports improvements in photosynthetic efficiency, osmotic regulation, ionic homeostasis, and antioxidant defence activation across cereals, legumes, and horticultural crops.
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