Organometallic assembling of chitosan‐Iron oxide nanoparticles with their antifungal evaluation against<i>Rhizopus oryzae</i>

Abstract

The ever‐increasing resistance of plant microbes towards fungicides and bactericides has been causing serious threat to plant production in recent years. For the development of an effective antifungal agent, we introduce a novel hydrothermal protocol for synthesis of chitosan iron oxide nanoparticles (CH‐Fe 2 O 3 NPs) using acetate buffer of low pH 5.0 for intermolecular interaction of Fe 2 O 3 NPs and CH. The composite structure and elemental elucidation were carried out by using X‐ray power diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X‐ray (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultraviolet Visible Absorption Spectroscopy (UV–vis spectroscopy). Additionally, antifungal activity was evaluated both In vitro and In vivo against Rhizopus oryzae which is causing fruit rot disease of strawberry. We compared different concentrations (0.25%, 0.50%, 075% and 1%) of CH‐Fe 2 O 3 NPs and 50% synthetic fungicide (Matalyxal Mancozab) to figure out suitable concentration for application in the field. XRD analysis showed a high crystalline nature of the NPs with average size of 52 nanometer (nm). SEM images revealed spherical shape with size range of 50–70 nm, whereas, TEM also revealed spherical shape, size ranging from 0 nm to 80 nm. EDX and FTIR results revealed presence of CH on surface of Fe 2 O 3 NPs. The band gap measurement showed peak 317–318 nm for bare Fe 2 O 3 NPs and CH‐Fe 2 O 3 NPs respectively. Antifungal activity in both In vitro and In vivo significantly increased with increase in concentration. The overall results revealed high synergetic antifungal potential of organometallic CH‐Fe 2 O 3 NPs against Rhizopus oryzae and suggest the use of CH‐Fe 2 O 3 NPs against other Phyto‐pathological diseases due to biodegradable nature.