Characterization of Raoultella planticola Rs-2 microcapsule prepared with a blend of alginate and starch and its release behavior

To judiciously use Raoultella planticola Rs-2 and develop its biodegradable and controlled-release formulations, Rs-2 was encapsulated with various combinations of sodium alginate (NaAlg) and starch. Sodium alginate, soluble starch, and CaCl2 showed good biocompatibility with Rs-2 for preparing microcapsules. These microcapsules were spherical in shape and their particle size, embedding rate, swelling ratio of Rs-2 microcapsules and release numbers of viable Rs-2 cells increased with the increasing of starch and NaAlg concentrations. Meanwhile, the biodegradability of the microcapsules constantly increases when the wt% of starch increased, but decreased when the amount of NaAlg increased. In addition, the release mechanism of microcapsules was consistent with that of the Ritger-Peppas model, which involves the Case II diffusion mechanism. In summary, the desired properties of the microcapsules can be modulated by varying the starch and alginate amounts of capsule materials. This process has broad application prospects to meet the needs of agricultural production. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.