Alginate hydrogel beads embedded with drug-bearing polycaprolactone microspheres for sustained release of paclobutrazol.

In recent years there has been a growing demand for the development of agrochemical controlled release (CR) technologies. In the present study, we aimed to create a novel agricultural CR device using two polymeric systems that have been predominantly employed in biomedical applications: beads of alginate hydrogel embedded with drug-bearing Polycaprolactone (PCL) microspheres. The combined device utilizes the advantages of each polymer type for biodegradation and controlled release of Paclobutrazol (PBZ), a common growth retardant in plants.