Nano-based pesticides: challenges for pest and disease management

Plant pest and diseases control are commonly managed with conventional pesticides and chemicals that have shown a negative environmental impact. Thus, interest in efficient, safe, and green pesticide formulations has been growing to alleviate environmental and human toxicity risks. Nanopesticides, derived from recent advances in technology, have shown better-targeted pesticide delivery, and they could be eco-friendly and applied to sustainable agriculture. The use of nanotechnology in plant protection is a promising interdisciplinary approach that includes nanomaterials-based pesticides. Recently, nanopesticides have shown a notable effect on plant pest and disease control. Additionally, they answered to challenges of reducing costs and volume of pesticides while preciseness, crop yield, and biodegradability increased continuously. Several nanomaterials were evaluated and showed great potential in creating novel formulations. Otherwise, the effect of these products on nontarget species that exist in the same ecosystem of the target pathogen needs to be studied more. The nanopesticides of biological origin named nano-biopesticides or green synthesized nanopesticides could be, as the best alternative, the new trend combining nanotechnology and biological solutions, putting forward great findings for plant protection. The present review summarizes the currently used nanoparticles as pesticide formulations. Furthermore, the future challenges of this fast-growing and promising approach to sustainable agriculture are exposed. Finally, the current situation and the future of nano-biopesticides are discussed.