Bioencapsulação de bacillus para formulação de bioinoculante de liberação controlada

Abstract

To meet nutrient deficiencies and increase crop productivity, fertilizers are used, that is, chemical or organic compounds that promote plant growth. However, the global commercialization of fertilizers is in crisis, as they are obtained from finite sources of natural resources, therefore, the implementation of new technologies for agricultural fertilization is more than necessary. In this context, biofertilizers, such as those obtained through biodigestors or inoculating microorganisms, bring benefits as they do not cause soil and groundwater contamination, resulting in a nutritional balance in plants and greater biological activity in the soil. A group of microorganisms that stand out for application as bioinoculants are plant growth promoting bacteria (BPCPs). The challenge is to design capsules that store these bacteria without inactivating them. Still, several studies on possible encapsulating materials are being carried out, including waste from industrial processes, such as chitosan, as well as the use of clay and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). The present work aims to obtain and characterize biocapsules from a Bacillus strain that promotes plant growth. In the evaluation of different concentrations of materials, the best biocapsule obtained was with 1% of CMC, 0.2% of chitosan and 1.5% of clay. It also presented the expected morphological characteristics, demonstrated 100% efficiency in microbial entrapment, cell survival after encapsulation was verified, and over 6 days it presented a final controlled release of 9x104 CFU/mL. The results obtained were consistent with those found in the literature, proving the production potential of the bioinoculant.