Development of chitosan-²-cyclodextrin nanoparticles for sustained release of carvacrol and linalool aiming agricultural applications

Abstract

The largest agricultural losses worldwide are related to insects and pests that affect diverse cultures, causing damage that can reach up to 100% loss in severe cases. The velvetbean caterpillar (gemmatalis Anticarsia) and fall armyworm corn (Spodoptera fugiperda) are the main pests on two cultures of great importance for the Brazilian agribusiness, soybeans and corn respectively. The use of synthetic insecticides to control these pests, although efficient, have a number of problems, from environmental contamination and emergence of resistant populations of insects to human contamination. In this context, an alternative that has been resumed for pest control is the use of secondary metabolites in some plants, which, given the name of insecticidal plants, which have been effective in controlling these. However, botanical insecticides have some limitations, such as instability problems that can be overcome employing modified release systems. In this context, the objective of the project is to prepare and characterize chitosan nanoparticles functionalized with cyclodextrin to load the botanical insecticide (carvacrol) and the botanical replente (linalool) and later the incorporation of these nanoparticles in gels for the production of devices aiming at applications in agriculture. Furthermore, we will investigate the cytotoxicity and phytotoxicity of prepared systems, as well as bioassays of insecticidal and repellent activity against target species (Spodoptera gemmatalis and Anticarsia fugiperda). The size of this project lies in the fact that Brazil is the main consumer of agricultural inputs in the world, due to the need of quality production, since agriculture is essential for the Brazilian economy. Thus, development of value-added systems for pest control based on sustained release systems for insecticides /repellents more effective and less impactful botanical against the conventional systems currently used for pest control in agriculture. (AU)