Bioengineered chitosan-magnesium nanocomposite: A novel agricultural antimicrobial agent against Acidovorax oryzae and Rhizoctonia solani for sustainable rice production

Chitosan is a potent biopolymer having promising antimicrobial properties against phytopathogens. Recently, engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have gained much attention due to their potential application in the plant disease management. In this study, we reported the green synthesis of chitosan-magnesium (CS-Mg) nanocomposite and its antimicrobial activity against two rice pathogens namely Acidovorax oryzae and Rhizoctonia solani for the first time. The green MgO nanoparticles synthesized by using a native Bacillus sp. strain RNT3, were used to fabricate CS-Mg nanocomposite utilizing one-pot synthesis method. The synthesis of CS-Mg nanocomposite was further confirmed by using UV–vis spectroscopy, whereas, FTIR and XRD analysis showed the capping of CS-Mg nanocomposites by different functional groups together with their crystalline structure, respectively. Besides, SEM and TEM images revealed the spherical shape along with the particles size ranging from 29 to 60 nm. Moreover, EDS analysis confirmed the elemental purity of nanocomposite. The CS-Mg nanocomposite showed remarkable antimicrobial activity against A. oryzae and R. solani and significantly inhibited the growth as compared to non-treated control. The ultrastructure studies showed damaged structure of cell wall and internal cellular organelles after treatment with 100 μg mL⁻¹ CS-Mg nanocomposite. The results of this study indicated that CS-Mg nanocomposite-based antimicrobial agents could be considered as promising nanopesticides against phytopathogens in plant disease management.