Study of Limonene Loaded Zein Nanoparticles for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Limonene is an active ingredient (AI) from citrus plants, which could prove to be a suitable alternative to synthetic pesticides without deteriorating soil and aquatic environment and become a promising candidate for various nanotechnological formulations. In this work, we have developed a plant derived zein based nanoformulation for reducing poor stability and rapid degradation of limonene. Sodium caseinate (SC), an emulsifier was adsorbed onto hydrophobic zein surface by electrostatic interaction, imparting to a hydrophilic interface and ameliorating the re-dispersibility of the lyophilized formulations in water. To demonstrate the efficacy of such botanical based nanoformulation, zein nanoparticles have been employed as an environmentally friendly and biodegradable carrier system which encapsulated limonene. The prepared zein NPs using SC and limonene loaded zein NPs prepared using SC were characterized and studied by UV vis spectroscopy, DLS, FTIR, DSC and microplate reader. The botanical nanoformulation showed better encapsulation efficiency (~70%) which was studied by UV vis spectroscopy at 210 nm. The molecular interaction phenomenon of zein NPs and limonene was well understood by the chemically bonded functional sites using FTIR spectra and the physicochemical stability size of the prepared nanoformulation was studied by DLS. The thermal stability of the prepared nanoformulation was also studied using DSC. Antimicrobial activity of the prepared nanoformulation showed better effect against P. syringae. Such advanced nanoformulation opens a new insight for the sustainable agriculture and disease control against plant pathogenic microbes.