Botanical compounds are increasingly investigated as sources of functional ingredients, crop-protection agents, therapeutic candidates, and health-promoting products. Their practical use, however, is often limited by poor water solubility, chemical instability, volatility, rapid degradation, low bioavailability, uncontrolled release, and variable performance under field or physiological conditions. Encapsulated Botanicals: Applications and Technologies in Agriculture and Healthcare examines how encapsulation technologies can address these limitations and support the development of more stable, effective, and application-ready botanical formulations.
This book brings together the scientific foundations of botanical encapsulation with current formulation strategies, carrier systems, processing methods, physicochemical characterization, release mechanisms, stability assessment, safety, and scale-up considerations. It discusses conventional and emerging platforms, including microencapsulation, nanoencapsulation, lipid-based systems, polymeric carriers, emulsions, inclusion complexes, and other delivery approaches, while connecting formulation design to the properties of plant extracts, essential oils, phytochemicals, and other botanical materials.
Applications are presented across agriculture and healthcare, including controlled delivery of biopesticides, plant-growth-promoting agents, crop-protection products, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and other health-related formulations. By integrating formulation science, biological performance, analytical evaluation, and translational considerations, the book helps readers select suitable encapsulation systems and understand the factors that determine product efficacy, reproducibility, safety, and practical implementation. It is intended for researchers, graduate students, formulation scientists, agricultural and pharmaceutical professionals, natural-products specialists, and research-and-development teams working at the intersection of botanical resources, delivery technologies, sustainable agriculture, and healthcare innovation.
