ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Agroecological Cropping Systems
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2025.1673914
This article is part of the Research TopicRegenerative Agriculture for Soil Health, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, and Climate ActionView all 12 articles
Impact of liquid biofertilizer from cocoa shells on the growth and chlorophyll content of sweet peppers (Capsicum chinense L.) in San Martín, Peru
Provisionally accepted
RICHARD SOLÓRZANO1,2
Juancarlos Cruz1Nery Gaona-Jimenez3Andi Lozano3Henry Diaz-Chuquizuta1
Geomar Vallejos Torres1,3*Rita de Cassia Siqueira-Bahia1- 1Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria, La Molina, Peru
- 2Universidad Cientifica del Sur, Miraflores, Peru
- 3Universidad Nacional de San Martin Tarapoto, Tarapoto, Peru
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The growth and yield of sweet peppers are constrained by factors such as fertilization practices and edaphoclimatic conditions, which ultimately threaten global food security in the context of an ever-growing population. This study evaluated the effect of a liquid biofertilizer derived from cocoa husks on the growth and chlorophyll content of sweet pepper (Capsicum chinense) cultivated in San Martín, Peru. The experiment was conducted at the experimental station of the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation in Tarapoto, San Martín, Peru (6°35′00″ S, 76°19′46″ W). A completely randomized design was applied, consisting of five treatments (0, 750, 1250, 2250, and 3000 mL) with 20 plants per treatment, totaling 100 experimental units. The biofertilizer was applied eight days after sowing (das). Plant height, stem diameter, and leaf chlorophyll content were measured at 15, 35, and 85 das. After 85 das, the highest plant height was observed with the 3000 mL and 1250 mL treatments, reaching averages of 29.98 and 28.25 cm, respectively. Stem diameter was maximized with 3000 mL (6.25 cm), whereas the highest chlorophyll content was recorded with 1250 mL, averaging 35.37 SPAD units. These results highlight the potential of liquid biofertilizers produced from cocoa shells to enhance nutrient uptake, increase plant biomass, and improve photosynthetic capacity, thereby contributing to sustainable sweet pepper production
Keywords: Plant height, Capsicum chinense, Cocoa shell, Chlorophyll, Stem diameter
Received: 26 Jul 2025; Accepted: 10 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 SOLÓRZANO, Cruz, Gaona-Jimenez, Lozano, Diaz-Chuquizuta, Vallejos Torres and Siqueira-Bahia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Geomar Vallejos Torres, Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria, La Molina, Peru
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.