In-vitro antifungal activities of silver-copper complex/chitosan (Ag-Cu@CS) nanoparticles synthesized by in-situ encapsulation

Abstract

In this study, silver-copper complex/chitosan (Ag-Cu@CS) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by in-situ encapsulation reduction method. The results show that as-synthesized nanoparticles were quasi spherical in shape with the average diameter of 7.97 nm, well-dispersed particles in water and stable. The test phytopathogenic fungi Sclerotium rolfsii, Magnaporthe oryzae K, Botrytis cinerea, and Colletotrichum gloeospodises were isolated from diseased fruits of Vinh orange trees, which was cultivated in Nghe An province. The obtained Ag-Cu@CS product have strong inhibition agaisnt four fungi in-vitro. The inhibitory effect of silver-copper complex/chitosan (Ag-Cu@CS) nanoparticles at concentrations of 25 ppm was reached over 50% on Sclerotium rolfsii, Magnaporthe oryzae, and Botrytis cinerea at a concentration of 50 ppm, the inhibitory effect of the nanoparticles on Colletotrichum gloeospodises reached over 50% after 4 days of culture. These results suggested that silver-copper complex/chitosan (Ag-Cu@CS) nanoparticles can be used as a promising fungicide for plant protection.