ABSTRACT
Overuse of pesticides is an urgent issue to be solved in sustainable agriculture. Based on the synergistic drug loading effect of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) encapsulation and alginate (Alg) cross-linking, a new environment-responsive drug delivery system (TMX-loaded Alg/ß-CD) was constructed. The relationship between carrier structure and solubility of thiamethoxam (TMX) was researched by molecular simulation. ß-CD has good binding affinity with TMX, which can increase TMX solubility by 40 %. Further co-loading with alginate could double the drug loading of the cyclodextrin inclusion complex up to 41 %. TMX-loaded Alg/ß-CD exhibits excellent environment-responsive controlled-release performance, and TMX sustained release time is 7.5 times longer than that of commercial agents. The pest control efficacy of TMX-loaded Alg/ß-CD is 20 days longer than that of commercial TMX, and the crops has no pesticide residues after using. This study provides a promising strategy for the commercial application of polysaccharide in pest control and pesticide reduction.