Smart metal–organic framework nanocarriers that
respond
to microenvironmental stimuli related to plant diseases can achieve
the on-demand release of active ingredients to control diseases. The
plant essential oil citral (CT) has significant biological activity
against most pathogens but its poor stability limits its application
in the field. To improve the applicability of plant essential oils,
we aimed to construct a pH responsive essential oil delivery system
(CT@ZIF-8) based on the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 in this study.
The high specific surface area of ZIF-8 enables CT@ZIF-8 remarkable
loading capacity, and the metal–organic framework effectively
delays the volatilization of CT. The results showed that CT@ZIF-8
was approximately 177 nm in size, had a stable nanostructure, and
displayed a high pesticide loading efficiency (15.22%). The photodegradation
rate of CT loaded in ZIF-8 under UV irradiation (48 h) was only 17.99%,
much lower than that of CT alone (51.18%). The CT@ZIF-8 had a pH-responsive
controlled release property, releasing CT from CT@ZIF-8 in a pH-dependent
manner. The bioactivity results showed that CT@ZIF-8 had a lower EC50 than CT against three fungi (Magnaporthe oryzae, Botryosphaeria dothidea, and Fusarium
oxysporum), enhancing the antifungal activity of CT. After
3 d of reagent treatment, only CT@ZIF-8 maintained good control against
rice blast (75.76%) and soft rot (63.69%) infection. We have constructed
a smart delivery system for essential oils, which provides a new pathway
for the efficient application of plant-derived essential oils in the
green control of plant diseases.