Targeted agrochemical delivery using smart nanoparticles for sustainable agriculture

在可预见的未来，粮食安全、提高农业产量和采用更有益的农业方法是必不可少的愿望。作为其中的一部分，将活性成分（AI）包封在生物相容性和生物可降解的纳米颗粒内有希望增强所含AI的有益特性并减轻其更有害的影响，例如包含在聚乙烯中的阿特拉津该研究的愿望是使用新开发的脂质纳米颗粒（LNP），用于有针对性和对环境敏感的农用化学品的交付。LNP将被设计为通过缓慢释放来交付农用化学品。此外，pH响应LNP的将被设计为提供独脚金内酯，以增强促进植物根部和土壤真菌（称为菌根）之间的共生关系。脂质纳米颗粒将使用微流体工具生产。同时，小角中子/X射线散射和低温透射电镜将阐明LNP的结构特征，为合理设计输送载体提供依据。将使用荧光显微镜测定AI释放效率。最终，LNP的环境行为和特性将在全球食品与环境研究所大学农场的农业环境中进行测试。

Food security, increased agricultural yield and more benign agricultural methods are requisite aspirations for the foreseeable future. As part of this, encapsulation of active ingredients (AI's) within biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles has promise by which to enhance the beneficial properties of contained AI's and mitigate their more pernicious effects, for example atrazine contained within poly(epsilon-caprolactone) nanocapsules.The aspiration of this research is to use newly developed lipid nanoparticles (LNP's) for the targeted and environmentally responsive delivery of agrochemicals.LNP's will be designed to deliver agrochemicals via slow release. Furthermore, pH-responsive LNP's will be designed to deliver strigolactones to enhance to promote the symbiotic relationship between plants with roots and soil fungi known as mycorrhizas.The lipid nanoparticles will be produced using microfluidic tools. Meanwhile, Small Angle Neutron/X-rays scattering and cryo-TEM will elucidate structural characteristics of the LNP's for rational design of delivery vectors. AI release efficiency will be determined using fluorescent microscopy. Eventually, the environmental behaviour and properties of the LNP's will be tested in an agricultural setting at the Global Institute of Food and Environment University Farm.