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Nanoemulsions are particularly suitable as a platform in the development of delivery systems for lipophilic functional agents. Current research describes the formation of oil-in-water (O/W) diazinon nanoemulsions using synthetic and natural additives by adopting a high-energy (ultrasound) emulsification method. The diazinon nanoemulsions were spontaneously formed by adding dropwise a mixture of diazinon, solvent and co-solvent in an aqueous solution containing a surfactant (tween or lecithin) with continuous stirring. The nanoemulsions were then formed by ultra-sonication. The effects of three levels of active ingredient, solvent, co-solvent, surfactant, sonication time and sonication cycle and power were performed by Minitab software to design the experiment. Effects of these factors on droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), viscosity and pH of nanoemulsions were investigated. The results of the modeling showed that the experimental data could be adequately adapted in a second-order polynomial model with a multiple regression coefficient r of 0.821 for the prediction of particle size, PDI and viscosity. The long-term and thermodynamic stability of the prepared nanoemulsions were tested. The droplet size and morphology of the nanoemulsions were measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). On this basis, a water-insoluble insecticide diazinon was incorporated into 26 optimized nanoemulsion systems to demonstrate potential applications in pest control. The results of DLS and TEM measurements showed that most of prepared nanoemulsions had an almost monodisperse droplet size distribution (PDI < 200 nm). Incorporation of diazinon had no significant effect on the size and stability of the nanoemulsions and the formulated nanoemulsion remained stable after four months of storage.

Summary Avermectins and spinosyns are structurally related natural products of microbial origin and belong to a new family of macrolides which are active against a vast array of invertebrate pests. In the present study, the effects of four members of macrolides; abamectin (ABM), emamectin benzoate (EMB), spinosad (SPI) and spinetoram (SPIT), on Meloidogyne incognita were investigated under in vitro and in vivo conditions. All compounds reduced egg hatching and led to high mortality of the nematode second-stage juveniles (J2). ABM showed the maximum rate of egg hatching inhibition and J2 mortality while SPIT recorded the minimum. All treatments reduced the number of galls, egg masses, eggs/egg mass in roots and J2 in the soil when compared to the control. Based on the 10 folds of the 24 h-LC50 values of J2 mortality in vitro, EMB and ABM exhibited higher percent reduction in galls (79.68 and 71.45%), egg masses (75.19 and 70.54%), eggs/egg mass (60.49 and 40.91%) and J2 in the soil (90.31 and 86.54%), respectively, compared to SPI and SPIT. Significant increase in tomato shoot height occurred in all biopesticides (10 folds) and SPIT (20 folds). SPI at 10 folds of the 24 h-LC50 values of J2 mortality in vitro, significantly increased root length while ABM at 50 folds and SPIT at 20 folds decreased root length by 5.15% and 5.88%, respectively, compared to the untreated inoculated plants. In all treatments, the dry shoot and root weights increased, compared to the untreated control. Our findings suggest that these macrolides have the ability to regulate nematode population densities and may be an alternative to classical nematicides.

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