Qizheng Liu1, Panqing Liu1, Yanjun Xu2, Bin Wang3, Pengfei Liu1, Jianjun Hao4, Xili Liu1. 1. College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. 2. College of Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. 3. State Key Laboratory of the Discovery and Development of Novel Pesticide, Shenyang Sinochem Agrochemicals R&D Co., Ltd, Shenyang, China. 4. School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Fluazinam is an effective fungicide in controlling gray mold, but has short duration of efficacy. Increasing application dosage may cause phytotoxicity. To overcome this shortage, a controlled-release technology was studied by encapsulating fluazinam. Ethyl cellulose polymer microcapsules were loaded with fluazinam to formulate a fluazinam capsule suspension (FCS). The efficacy for inhibition of B. cinerea and persistency of the FCS were examined by comparing with fluazinam technical concentrate (FTC) and aqueous fluazinam suspension concentrate (FSC) using microscopic observation and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. RESULTS: FCS formed capsules, with median size of 3.17 μm in diameter, had 82.3% encapsulation efficiency. It had a stronger inhibitory activity against B. cinerea than FTC and FSC measured 7 days after the treatments. The half-life of FCS on cucumber leaves was 3.4 days, longer than the 2.3 days of FSC. CONCLUSION: FCS formulation significantly improved the inhibition of B. cinerea and resulted in prolonged and sustained release. Moreover, microencapsulation increased the duration of the efficacy of fluazinam on target crops. This formulation could help to sustain pesticides and protect the environment.
BACKGROUND:Fluazinam is an effective fungicide in controlling gray mold, but has short duration of efficacy. Increasing application dosage may cause phytotoxicity. To overcome this shortage, a controlled-release technology was studied by encapsulating fluazinam. Ethyl cellulose polymer microcapsules were loaded with fluazinam to formulate a fluazinam capsule suspension (FCS). The efficacy for inhibition of B. cinerea and persistency of the FCS were examined by comparing with fluazinam technical concentrate (FTC) and aqueous fluazinam suspension concentrate (FSC) using microscopic observation and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. RESULTS: FCS formed capsules, with median size of 3.17 μm in diameter, had 82.3% encapsulation efficiency. It had a stronger inhibitory activity against B. cinerea than FTC and FSC measured 7 days after the treatments. The half-life of FCS on cucumber leaves was 3.4 days, longer than the 2.3 days of FSC. CONCLUSION: FCS formulation significantly improved the inhibition of B. cinerea and resulted in prolonged and sustained release. Moreover, microencapsulation increased the duration of the efficacy of fluazinam on target crops. This formulation could help to sustain pesticides and protect the environment.