Urea-Formaldehyde Nanoencapsulation Enhances Bunium persicum Essential Oil's Toxicity Against Brevicoryne brassicae

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Masoud Heidary 1
Shahriar Jafari 1
Javad Karimzadeh 2
Maryam Negahban 3
Jahanshir Shakarami 1
Mehran Rezaei 4
1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.
2 Department of Plant Protection, Isfahan Research and Education Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, AREEO, Isfahan, Iran
3 Department of Pesticide Research, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, AREEO, Tehran, Iran.
4 Institute of Agriculture, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Brevicoryne brassicae L. (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a highly destructive cabbage aphid native to Europe, has become a globally distributed pest of significant agricultural concern. This species currently poses significant challenges for cabbage production, resulting in substantial crop losses. The fresh consumption of cabbage necessitates the development of non-chemical control methods to ensure food safety while effectively managing pest populations. However, this study investigated the aphicidal activity of both pure and nanoencapsulated Bunium persicum (Boiss.) Fedtsch essential oils against B. brassicae. The essential oil (EO), obtained through hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS), contained γ-Terpinen (36.62%), ρ-Cymene (18.41%), Carvacrol (13.60%), and Cuminaldehyde (13.50%) as its major components. Nanocapsules were synthesized via in situ polymerization of an oil-in-water emulsion and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), revealing spherical particles with a median diameter of 10.88 nm and a low polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.057. Bioassays demonstrated that the nanoencapsulated formulation exhibited significantly higher toxicity than the pure EO, with lower contact LC50 and LC90 values (365.43 and 1908.46 µL/L water, respectively) compared to the pure EO (1030.40 and 3977.08 µL/L water). Similarly, the fumigant LC50 and LC90 values for the nanocapsules (23.15 and 59.49 µL/L air) were significantly lower than those of the pure EO (35.07 and 79.59 µL/L air). The findings suggest the potential of nanoencapsulated B. persicum EO in integrated pest management for controlling cabbage aphid.

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Available Online from 06 October 2025