Impacts of green synthesized silver nanoparticles with natural bioactive compounds on plant’s developmental behavior

Abstract Presently, our environment is being saturated with various types of nanomaterial, that is generated by different natural and anthropogenic activities. Metallic nanoparticles are utilized in a broad range of consumer products that increase the outlet of nanoparticles in the ecosystem. Among all the nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are highly used in the process of industrialization. Recently, the synthesis of AgNPs via biological methods have gained profound interest. In the ecosystem, plants are the major component that is utilized as an important source of food and medicinal bioactive compounds for human beings. They synthesize various kinds of secondary metabolites (like terpenes, phenols, flavonoids, tannin, etc.) for their defensive activities, and these natural bioactive compounds are majorly involved in the green synthesis of AgNPs as reducing and stabilizing agents. Plant bioactive compounds are utilized during the AgNPs synthesis, and they enhance the biomedical potential of green synthesized nanoparticles. In this chapter, we focus on AgNPs biological synthesis via utilizing plant natural metabolites and AgNPs effects related to plant growth, physiology, and the antioxidative defense system. This study also emphasizes the elicitation strategy of AgNPs for plant secondary metabolite production in plants. In the next future, the study related to the elicitation mechanism of secondary metabolites and signal transduction in plants through AgNPs is of utmost importance.