Nano encapsulated naturally derived antimicrobial compounds are nowadays under great attention because of their ability to enhance the efficacy of loaded therapeutics. Alternaria alternata is a fungal pathogen related to the sever disease of tomato plants called early blight which causes high economic losses in tomato production every year and worldwide. Plant compounds such as Carum copticum essential oil (CEO) and Peganum harmala extract (PE) are known to possess considerable antifungal properties. This study was set to investigate the co-encapsulation of CEO and PE in chitosan nanoparticles in order to enhance antifungal activity and stability of the oils against A. alternata. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by different analytical methods followed by their in-vitro and in-vivo antifungal evaluations. The obtained results indicated that the particles are spherical in shape with positively charged surface and the average size of 100 nm. In-vitro results showed that chitosan nanoparticles loaded with CEO-PE at a concentration of 200 ppm, have a complete inhibitory effect, while the bare essential oils and extracts have an inhibitory effect at concentrations of 500 and 750 ppm, respectively. Also the in-vivo studies revealed that the PE-CEO encapsulated nano particles have the therapeutic efficacy equal to that of commercial fungicide of chlorothalonil. These findings demonstrated the promising role of CEO-PE loaded chitosan nanoparticles for success controlling of pathogenic fungi in both in-vivo and in-vitro conditions.

纳米封装的天然抗微生物化合物如今受到极大关注，因为它们能够增强负载疗法的功效。Alternaria alternata是一种真菌病原体，与称为早疫病的番茄植物严重病害有关，每年和全世界都会导致番茄生产的高经济损失。众所周知，植物化合物，例如香芹精油 (CEO) 和山核桃提取物 (PE)，具有相当大的抗真菌特性。这项研究被设置为调查壳聚糖纳米颗粒CEO和PE的共同封装，以增强对油的抗真菌活性和稳定性格孢. 制备的纳米颗粒通过不同的分析方法进行表征，然后进行体外和体内抗真菌评估。结果表明，颗粒呈球形，表面带正电，平均粒径为100 nm。体外结果表明，载有浓度为 200 ppm 的 CEO-PE 的壳聚糖纳米颗粒具有完全抑制作用，而裸精油和提取物分别在 500 和 750 ppm 的浓度下具有抑制作用。还有体内研究表明，PE-CEO包封的纳米颗粒具有与商业杀菌剂百菌清相当的疗效。这些发现证明了载有 CEO-PE 的壳聚糖纳米粒子在体内和体外条件下成功控制病原真菌的有希望的作用。