**4. Conclusions**

Conventional mancozeb has metals, such as zinc and manganese, which interfere with the living entity and cause significant environmental, soil, and health problems because of leaching via soil and water. Considering the hazards of commercial mancozeb, the biopolymeric nanocomposites in the current study showed a good EE and LC by sandwiching mancozeb in oppositely-charged biopolymers. Dialysis tubing showed slow and sustained release of mancozeb from encapsulated nanocomposite, which may be the reason for higher or comparable DCE percentages against *A. alternata* and *S. lycopersici* compared to commercial mancozeb, and can be used for environmental protection. Thus, these nanoformulations may be explored for the site-directed delivery of mancozeb for disease control in plants with minimalistic fungicide loaded to minimize environmental, soil, and human health problems.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.S.D. and R.K.; methodology, R.K.; software, R.K.; validation, J.S.D. and R.K.; formal analysis, R.K.; investigation, R.K.; data curation, R.K.; writing original draft preparation, R.K.; writing—review and editing, V.N.; visualization, V.N.; supervision, J.S.D.; project administration, J.S.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data will be made available upon request.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors thank the Director, SAIF, AIIMS, New Delhi; STIC, Kochi, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, GJUS&T, Hisar, LPU, Jalandhar for the characterization of the nanoformulations. The authors appreciate Manju Barnela and Munish Ahuja (GJUS&T, Hisar) for her help with the optimization and release behaviour studies. The authors are thankful to the Chairperson, the Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, for providing the lab and other infrastructure facility to carry out this research.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel Switzerland Tel. +41 61 683 77 34 Fax +41 61 302 89 18 www.mdpi.com

MDPI Books Editorial Office E-mail: books@mdpi.com www.mdpi.com/books

MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel Switzerland Tel: +41 61 683 77 34

www.mdpi.com ISBN 978-3-0365-6534-7