Nano Fertilizers to Enrich Plant Protein – A Way to Improve Protein Content in Plant-Based Meat

Nano Fertilizers to Enrich Plant Protein – A Way to Improve Protein Content in Plant-Based Meat

Chandan Krishnamoorthy¹, Debanjan Saha¹, Sneha S. Kelkar¹, Amal J. Thomas¹, Lokesh Kumar², Ramalingam Chidambaram¹*

¹Instrumental and Food Analysis Laboratory, School of Bio Science and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

²Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand

Abstract:

In the growing era of agro-science, nanotechnology helps to upgrade agricultural production by increasing the efficiency of inputs and minimizing relevant losses. The use of nanoparticles enhance food quality and safety, reduce agricultural inputs and enrich crops by absorbing nano-scale nutrients from the soil and acting as nanocarriers. Nanomaterials are used to coat nitro-fertilizers which are delivered to the crops via hydroponic systems, the soil, or pre-soak strategies. Compounds like Ag, Fe, Cu, SiO₂, Zn, ZnO, CeO₂, and carbon nanotubes have unique physicochemical properties such as influencing the uptake, translocation, and accumulation of nutrients that inherently enhance plant growth and stress tolerance. Nanoparticles can play a role in each stage of plant growth-during seed germination, root and shoot growth, biomass, and fibrillation of plant proteins forming a hybrid nanocomposite. Nanomaterials can penetrate the seed layer and induce the ability of absorption and utilization of water, which stimulates the enzymatic system. Nanomaterials such as ZnO, TiO₂, carbon nanotubes, and FeO are reported to enhance the quality of many crops including peanut, soybean, mungbean, wheat, onion, spinach, tomato, potato, and mustard. This chapter aims to understand the nano fertilizer's effect on the improvement of the plant quality that would, in turn, enhance the plant protein which helps to create better plant-based meat. To produce plant-based meat, plant proteins from different sources are used but due to the factors such as availability, cost, and processing functionality, soy and pea proteins are widely used as the main ingredients. Both consist of an albumin fraction and a globulin fraction. Nano fertilizers enhance the amount of albumin during seed germination and improve salt tolerance in these plants so that more amount of globulin can be extracted. Thus the protein levels are increased in the soy and pea plant which in turn helps to improve the plant-based protein meat which could compete with animal meat products.

Keywords: Nano fertilizers, plant protein, plant-based meat, nanoparticles, nanomaterials