Chitosan microencapsulation of rhizobacteria for biological control of plant pests and diseases: Recent advances and applications

Chitosan is a candidate polymer for the encapsulation of probiotic bacteria for agricultural purposes. The attractive features of chitosan include its biocompatibility with other materials, easy digestion and dissolution, non-toxicity, high adsorption power, and potential biodegradation in nature, as well as its wide availability and cost-effectiveness. Chitosan has therefore become very important in a number of industries. In agriculture, the use of this polymer has effectively solved the main problems of bacterial encapsulation, including degradability, survival, and long-term performance. However, more precision is needed to improve the encapsulation of probiotic bacteria for use in integrated pest and plant disease management programs for organic agricultural production systems. The efficacy of using chitosan for the encapsulation of biocontrol bacteria requires further study, particularly regarding the preparation and production of new formulations based on biodegradable polymers and the ability of these formulations to increase the quantity and quality of agricultural products while controlling pests and plant diseases.