سمیت تدخینی اسانس نانوکپسوله شده آویشن کوهی (‏Thymus kotschyanus Boiss & Hohen‏) با استفاده از ‏زئولیت‌های ‏A3‎‏ و ‏A4‎‏ روی ‏Tetranychus urticae

Two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is considered as one of the ‎damaging pests on a wide-host range of field and glasshouse crops and fruit trees. Although the use of synthetic ‎chemicals is the main method in pest management, their frequent application resulted in several side effects, ‎including environmental pollution, the threat to human health, negative effects on non-target organisms, and ‎the development of pest resistance. Therefore, introducing novel and efficient agents in the pests' management ‎is necessary. The promising pesticidal potential of essential oils isolated from different plant families, genus, ‎and species has been reported in recent years. However, low environmental persistence is the main limit in their ‎utilization. In the present study, fumigant toxicity of the Thymus kotschyanus essential oil was evaluated on the ‎adults of T. urticae, and the calculated LC70 value (2.96 µl/l) was selected for nanoencapsulation by the ‎mesoporous materials zeolites A3 and A4 to enhance the essential oil stability. The encapsulation efficiency in ‎zeolites A3 and A4 were calculated as 90.63 ± 1.99% and 91.67 ± 1.70%. The size of synthesized capsules was ‎assessed by SEM and their nano size (less than 100 nm) was approved. Nanoencapsulation of T. ‎kotschyanus essential oil by zeolites A3 and A4 significantly enhanced its stability so that the fumigant toxicity ‎persistence from 5 days in pure essential oil was augmented to 25 and 28 days for nanoencapsulated ‎formulations, respectively. According to the results of the present study, the nanoencapsulation of T. ‎kotschyanus essential oil by zeolites A3 and A4 is the proper technique to enhance its fumigant stability and ‎can be recommended for further research in the management of T. urticae.‎