Table 4.

Adverse effect of nanoparticles on targeted crop and soil health

NPs	Size (nm)	Targeted crop	Adverse effect on plant	Degradation time in soil (days)	Effect on soil	Key references
Al2O3	50	Nicotiana tabacum L.	Reduce the germination percentage, biomass per seedling, and average root length	3	Reduce the activity of bacteria Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas stutzeri	[147, 148]
C60-fullerence	50	G. max (L.) Merr	Reduced biomass	60	Reduction of 20–30% in fast-growing protozoa and bacteria	[58, 149]
CuO, Ni, ZnO and Cr2O3	100	Oryza sativa L.	Effect the activities of antioxidant enzymes in plant	24	Activity of enzyme dehydrogenase and urease reduced to 75% and 44% respectively	[221, 222]
ZnO and TiO2	10- 20	T. aestivum L.	Reduced the root growth by 75%	60	Adversely affect the growth of earthworms, traces of ZnO and TiO2 were found inside the body	[61, 223]
Zn2+, Zn, and ZnO	50	Z. mays L.	50% reduction in photosynthesis, leaf stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and intercellular CO2 concentration	56	Reduce enzymes like β-glucosidase, phosphatase, and dehydrogenase present in the soil	[51, 150]
nZVI (zero valent iron)	20–100	Salix alba L.	Effect seedling growth	7	At 750 mg/kg, mortality rate of Lumbricus rubellus and Eisenia fetida was 100%	[53, 224]
Au	25	O. sativa L.	Damage to the root cell wall due to accumulation of Au across xylem	30	Effect the soil microbes and edaphic factors of soil	[52, 225]
TiO2, Ag, and CeO2	7–45	A. cepa L.	Increase in DNA damage as well as lipid peroxidation in roots	14	Reduced the survival, growth and fertility of nematodes	[226]
SnO2, CeO2 and Fe3O4	61 (SnO2), 50–100 (CeO2), 20–30 (Fe3O4)	Z. mays L.	Fe3O4 results in accumulation of Al in plant roots and negatively affects plant growth	63	Inhibits microbial growth	[141]
Ag	10–20	P. vulgaris L.	Disrupt chlorophyll synthesis, nutrient uptake, and hormone regulation	30	50% reduction in the activity of nitrifying bacteria	[158]