The objective of this work was to evaluate the microbicidal effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on potentially toxigenic fungi affecting cocoa (Theobroma cacao) crops. These fungi, isolated from diseased cocoa pods, were characterized phenotypically and genotypically. The microbicidal effect was assessed by measuring radial mycelial growth, in synthetic culture media, and at different AgNP concentrations in plant tissues. The inhibition effect was monitored in Petri dishes, and changes in fungal structures were observed through scanning electron microscopy. Two potentially toxigenic fungi were highly prevalent: Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium solani. The inhibition assays, performed in liquid and solid synthetic culture media, showed that AgNPs did not significantly affect the growth of these fungi, even at the highest concentration (100 ppm). By contrast, they showed a positive inhibitory effect in plant tissues, especially in the cortex, when infected with A. flavus, in which an 80 ppm dose completely inhibited fungal growth. However, once fungi have managed to penetrate inside the pods, their growth is unavoidable, and AgNP effect is reduced. On

Cocoa is an important commercial crop in the tropics, and estimating the water footprint to target areas of improvement is a worthwhile effort. The main goal of this paper was to assess the regional green and blue water footprints (WF) of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) production in the department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. Water footprint assessment was based on the Water Footprint Assessment Manual. The results show that the green water footprint was about 13,189 m³/ton, and the blue water footprint was 5687 m³/ton. The WF proposed method can be a good approximation for the uses of water for different crops, but weather conditions and hydrological modeling must be considered in extreme conditions, which would permit a much more detailed analysis for a region. This study allowed us to provide data on the cocoa water footprint, principally concentrating on elevated grain production in the department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. In addition, some of these results may positively contribute to water resource management improvement, especially regarding food security and water scarcity, both at the local and national levels. Therefore, the cocoa production process was analyzed from agronomic practices in settled crops, through the primary processing of the grain, to the procedures of grain selection and packaging. Thus, taking into consideration that most cocoa crops produced in Colombia are not irrigated, it is possible to implement productivity enhancement programs.

Cocoa is an important commercial crop in the tropics; and estimating the carbon emissions in the producing-areas is a worthwhile effort. The main goal of the current paper was to evaluate the carbon footprint (CF) per kilogram of Colombian cocoa bean produced under conventional and agroforestry managements, following the methods proposed by PAS 2050. In this research, we compared our results to other worldwide researches, showing an overview of the current limitations and challenges involving the CF researches. Our results showed that all calculated environmental burdens were lower for the conventional management. In the agroforestry practice, composting of cocoa pod husks contributed with approximately 34.00E+00 g methane and 2.55E+00 g nitrous oxide emissions per kilogram of cocoa grain produced. Therefore, such practice could reduce CF by 6.00E+00 kg CO2 Eq kg-1, which is certainly a significant amount. These cocoa residues left on the ground have a strong impact on CF of both studied managements due to the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, which represents more than 85% of emissions. We concluded that both evaluated production processes can emit environmental burdens at the same magnitude. Definitely, there is a widespread need to improve cocoa production system by changing old and less productive plants to the so called clones to ensure cocoa yield and quality worldwide.