ABSTRACT Essential oils (EOs) have become a promising alternative to antibiotic use in animal breeding because of their biological properties. Citrus EOs, a by-product of citrus processing industries, could be a feasible alternative due to their vast production worldwide. Encapsulation techniques, such as microencapsulation, could enable EO application in animal feed, preserving EO bioactivity. This study analyzes the use of foodgrade polymers, chitosan and modified starch, for microencapsulation of a commercial citrus EO, Brazilian orange terpenes (BOT), by spray-drying. Physical properties characterization showed that the microencapsulated BOT (MB-OT) had a moisture content = 5.39 %, aw = 0.40 and bulk density = 0.42 g/mL. Overall, microparticles presented a slight irregular-spherical shape, with a mean diameter of 2.77 μm and high polydispersity. Encapsulation efficiency reached 61.1...

Juan D. Rios-Mera and Erick Saldaña are grateful to the support of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica – CONCYTEC, from Peru (CIENCIACTIVA programme, PhD scholarship contracts: No. 238-2018-FONDECYT and No. 104-2016-FONDECYT). Juan D. Rios-Mera is also grateful for the scholarship granted by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES, from July 2017 to January 2019.