Emerging role of gold nanoparticles for healthier crop plants growth and enhanced yield

There is an emerging scientific interest in the use of nanomaterials for enhanced crop plants growth and its production to meet the growing food and energy demands of the world. Recently, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) gained great attention with their peculiar properties that influence the plant growth. This book chapter summarizes the literature reports on growth enhancement effects of AuNPs on different plant species. A brief introduction on preparation and properties of AuNPs is given first. Then, the interaction of AuNPs with plants was discussed in detail along with their growth enhancement effects. In plants, AuNPs have shown to influence various processes such as seed germination, photosynthetic apparatus and antioxidant system activity, and expression of some genes significant for plant function under optimal and adverse circumstances. These influences and growth enhancement effects varied from species to species. Studies have shown that along with dosage, the AuNPs size, shape, surface charge, and capping agent have significant influence on their uptake, translocation, distribution, and growth enhancement effects in plants.