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Fabrication of gelatin microspheres containing ammonium hydrogen carbonate for the tunable release of herbicide

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Abstract

The major challenge in utilizing pesticides lies in identifying the precise application that would improve the efficiency of these pesticides and decline their environmental and health hazards at the same time. Such application requires the development of specific formulations that enable controlled, stimuli-responsive release of the pesticides. Gelatin is a relatively cheap material characterized by temperature-sensitivity and abundant amino acid groups, which makes it suitable for the storage and controlled release of pesticides. In this study, gelatin microspheres were prepared by emulsion and cross-linking, then they were loaded with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid sodium (2,4-D Na) as a model herbicide. To achieve temperature-tunable release of 2,4-D Na from the microspheres, NH4HCO3 was added to the formulations at different concentrations. The prepared formulations were characterized by SEM, FTIR, and size distribution analyzes, and their drug loading capacities were determined. Based on bioassay experiments, the 2,4-D Na-NH4HCO3-loaded gelatin microspheres can effectively control the spread of dicotyledonous weeds. Therefore, the strategy proposed herein can be used to develop novel, effective herbicide formulations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Supplementary Information

Supplementary methods

Preparation of 2,4-D Na-Loaded Gelatin Microspheres and 2,4-D Na-NH4HCO3-Loaded Gelatin Microspheres

Characterization of Gelatin Microspheres, 2,4-D Na-Loaded Gelatin Microspheres and 2,4-D Na-NH4HCO3-Loaded Gelatin Microspheres

Supplementary tables: Table S1. Average particle sizes of unloaded and 2,4-D Na-loaded gelatin microspheres.

Table S2. Root length and weight on the 5th day.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Key Research & Development (R&D) Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFD0200502), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31772193), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. DUT19TD38), and the Open Research Fund from State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests (Grant No. SKLOF202006).

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Correspondence to Qing Yang or Jun Yang.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Liu, H., Zhang, Z., Li, J. et al. Fabrication of gelatin microspheres containing ammonium hydrogen carbonate for the tunable release of herbicide. Biotechnol Lett 43, 1747–1755 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-021-03163-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-021-03163-5

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