Construction of pyrethrin nanopesticides based on zeolite Imidazole-8 framework via one-pot method for effectively wheat aphid control

Pesticides play an important role in controlling plant diseases and insect pests to increase food production. Pyrethrin (Py), as a plant-derived insecticide, can effectively control wheat aphids owing to its fast knockdown, low concentration, and broad-spectrum insecticidal activity. However, Py is sensitive to UV irradiation and decomposes easily under sunlight, which leads to the loss of insecticidal activity. In this paper, we prepared one kind of metal organic framework nanopesticides based on zeolite imidazole-8 framework (ZIF-8) loaded with Py (Py@ZIF-8) via one-pot method for wheat aphid control. The prepared Py@ZIF-8 nanopesticides appeared acidic/basic pH and PO 4 3- stimuli-responsive properties for the controlled release of packaged Py by the disassembly of MOF skeleton and enhanced leaf wettability. The control efficacies of Py@ZIF-8 nanopesticides against wheat aphids reached ca. 86.67 ± 4.56 % under normal conditions, ca. 82.56 ± 3.88 % after water washing, and ca. 78.92 ± 4.34 % under exposure to UV irradiation, which appeared remarkably improvement compared with technical Py under UV irradiation and rain erosion condition, respectively. Even through the nanopesticides inevitably enter into soil or water, they appear good biosafety on wheat and cucumber seedlings by seed dressing, as well as zebrafish ( D. rerio ). Importantly, the eco-friendly nanocarriers will be ultimately degraded against bioaccumulation in crops based on the stimuli-responsive mechanisms. These results indicated that the prepared nanopesticides have an efficient wheat aphid control owing to the intelligent control release performance, as well as good UV and washing resistance, and good biosafety on non-target species, which have potential applications in agriculture against wheat aphids.