Peru is one of the world’s leading exporters of cocoa beans, which directly impacts the household economy of millions of small farmers. Currently, the expansion and modernization of the cocoa-growing area require the zoning of the territory with suitable biophysical and infrastructural conditions to facilitate optimizing productivity factors. Therefore, we analyzed land suitability for cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) production on the Peruvian mainland as a support measure for sustainable agriculture. To this end, the climatological, edaphological, orographic, and socioeconomic criteria determining sustainable cocoa cultivation were identified and mapped. Three modeling approaches (Analytic Hierarchy Process—AHP, Maximum Entropy—MaxEnt, and AHP—MaxEnt combined) were further used to hierarchize the importance of the criteria and to model the potential territory for sustainable cocoa cultivation. In all three modeling approaches, climatological criteria stood out among the five most important criteria. Elevation (orographic criteria) is also featured in this group. On the other hand, San Martin and Amazonas emerged as the five regions with the largest area ‘Highly suitable’ for cocoa cultivation in all three modeling approaches, followed by Loreto, Ucayali, Madre de Dios, Cusco, Junín, and Puno, which alternated according to modeling approach. From most to least restrictive, the AHP, MaxEnt, and AHP–MaxEnt modeling approaches indicate that 1.5%, 5.3%, and 23.0% of the Peruvian territory is ‘Highly suitable’ for cocoa cultivation, respectively.

In strawberry micropropagation, several challenges must be overcome to obtain quality plants and achieve high survival rate to ex vitro acclimatization. In this study, therefore, a set of protocols were evaluated to optimize explant (meristem) disinfection, in vitro growth (multiplication and rooting), and ex vitro acclimatization of strawberry. The results showed that explants treated with 1.0% NaClO for 5 min had a lower percentage of contamination, and achieved a higher percentage of viability, height, and number of leaves. In vitro growth was favored by the use of 1 mg L⁻¹ zeatin, since it allowed greater seedling growth (number of shoots, seedling height, number of leaves, number of roots and root length), and a higher pre-acclimation rate (100%). In the acclimatization phase, plants grown in a substrate composed of compost + peat combined with 4 g of humic acid achieved better response in morphological and physiological variables. In fact, the results of this study could be used to cultivate strawberry plants of the ‘Aroma’ variety with high commercial quality.

The presence of toxic metals such as aluminum is described as a factor that could lead to a significant decrease in crop productivity, particularly for the cultivation of acidophilic plants. In the present study, in vitro cultivation of pineapple was used as a model to evaluate the role of silver nanoparticles (0.005, 0.01, 0.025, 0.05, and 0.1 g L⁻¹ Ag NPs) against the negative effects of aluminum (0, 100, 300, and 500 μM AlCl₃). The results showed that the presence of 0.025 g L⁻¹ Ag NPs stimulated a higher concentration of photosynthetic pigments “a”, “b”, “a + b” and carotenoids in treatments with high levels of AlCl₃. The application of Ag NPs allowed better shoot formation, improved chlorophyll a/b, and total/carotenoid ratios, as well as better levels of proline biosynthesis in response to stress. The synergistic interaction of Ag NPs and AlCl₃ increased the availability and assimilation of mineral elements (K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Zn) while decreasing Al translocation. In conclusion, the implementation and validation of Ag NPs in agricultural fields would be revolutionary because they represent a novel alternative for overcoming the limitations imposed by the presence of Al.

Cocoa cultivation is of considerable economic and social importance to the Amazonas region and is commonly associated with forest species in the region. However, the diversification level and composition of cacao agroforestry systems in Peru are poorly understood. The objective of this study is, therefore, to describe the diversity of tree species in cocoa AFS by plantation age. Accordingly, the number of species of 15 plots covering a total of 1.5 hectares was recorded. Moderately low levels of tree species diversity were reported (H´ ranged 0.89–1.45). In total 17 species were reported throughout the study area. The most abundant botanical family was represented by a single Musa sp. species. The dissimilarity indices show a moderate similarity between the age ranges evaluated (over 62%). Additionally, the IVI indicates that the most important species are used for food and timber apart from providing shade, additionally major of this species are introduced intentionally for the farmers. Based on the observations, it may be concluded that the farmer’s interest in obtaining further benefits from the plot, mostly economic benefits affect the diversification of cocoa agroforestry systems.

The northeastern region of Peru is one of the centers of origin of cocoa due to the great diversity of this cultivar. The objective of this study is, therefore, to search for different genetic groups of 146 ecotypes of fine-aroma native cacao from the northeastern region of Peru, based on the morphological descriptors of pods, seeds, sensory, yield, and sampling altitude. The data were analyzed using multivariate statistics; a cluster analysis was performed with the numerical and categorical variables, followed by a principal component analysis (PCA) and the DGC (Di Rienzo, Guzmán y Casanoves) mean comparison test for the numerical data. Contingency tables and the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) were performed for the categorical data. We differentiated 5 genetic groups; helpfully, sensory characteristics of the flowers and pod, size and weight of the seeds, and pod index were in fact crucial in separating the groups. The ecotypes of the groups labeled as “Indes” and “Bagüinos” reported the best sensory characteristics with high floral and fruity notes and with a good yield expressed in pod index (13.88 and 11.88, respectively). Furthermore, these ecotypes are found at medium and high altitudes, above 500 m a.s.l., a factor that enables them to express their sensory and yield attributes. On the contrary, the ecotypes known as “Toribianos” and “Cajas” report the highest pod indices (20.77 and 16.78, respectively), resulting in low productivity. In the future, the variability of the ecotypes found will help establish genetic improvement programs that contribute to the development of cocoa farming in general.

One way to mitigate climate change is by reducing atmospheric CO₂ levels with the establishment of agroforestry systems (AFSs) that can capture and store atmospheric CO₂. This study therefore estimated the carbon sequestration in two components, aboveground (cocoa trees, other tree species, and leaf litter) and soil, in 15 fine aroma cocoa AFSs in Amazonas, Peru. These cocoa AFSs had a minimum area of 1.5 ha and were distributed into three age groups (each group consisted of five systems or farms): young cocoa trees between 8 and 15 years old, middle-aged cocoa trees between 16 and 29 years old, and adult cocoa trees between 30 and more than 40 years old. Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis followed by Fisher’s LSD mean comparison test (p > 0.05) determined the significant level of total aboveground biomass and total carbon content in the AFSs’ components. The present findings confirm that Theobroma cacao, Mussa sp., Cordia sp., and Persea sp. were the most common species in all AFSs. Clearly, biomass and carbon content in Theobroma cacao and Cordia sp. increased slightly with age, while fruit species Mussa sp. and Persea sp. decreased with age. The total aboveground carbon stock in young cocoa tree systems (13.64 Mg ha⁻¹) was lower than in middle-aged cocoa systems (20.50 Mg ha⁻¹) and adult cocoa systems (24.86 Mg ha⁻¹); nevertheless, no significant differences were found for any of the age ranges. On the other hand, carbon stocks in soil (up to 30 cm depth) in the AFSs ranged from 119.96 Mg ha⁻¹ to 131.96 Mg ha⁻¹. Meanwhile, the total carbon stored by aboveground and soil components in adults cocoa systems (156.81 Mg ha⁻¹) was higher compared to middle-aged cocoa systems (140.60 Mg ha⁻¹) and young cocoa systems (133.59 Mg ha⁻¹), although no statistically significant differences were found. Eventually, the CO₂ sequestration for young cocoa systems was 490.28 Mg ha⁻¹, and middle-aged and adult cocoa system recorded more than 500 Mg ha⁻¹ of CO₂. Furthermore, these data can further be used by national governments, local governments, and organisations of producers, particularly in accessing payments for environmental services, which may improve economic incomes and contribute to climate change mitigation by reserving biomass and sequestering C from these agroforestry cocoa systems.