Plantain cultivation is of great importance for the country´s food security and sovereignty. In Colombia, about 87 % of the established area is associated crop and 13 % as monoculture; It is one of the subsectors that generates the highest income and employment, in 2022 960,000 direct and indirect jobs were reported. In the Caldas department, plantain is cultivated in all municipalities, its value chain, its main actors, flows, synergies, and governance spaces around this productive system were analyzed. For this purpose, a mapping of local actors was used with a Social Network Analysis, a description of the de facto banana value chain and it was analyzed under the Governance Analytical Framework. There is evidence of a productive system with well differentiated areas in terms of technological development, integration of chain links, articulation of institutions, organizational processes, access to national and international markets, and agro-industrial transformation processes. The articulation and cooperation between inter-institutional actors have been critical for development of collective actions to optimize resources, time, processes, and maximize the generated impact. The Caldas roundtables competitiveness emerge and position themselves as a consolidated space for territorial governance, which in turn catalyzes articulation dynamics and institutional interventions to enhance the resources of value chains and territories.

Livestock in Colombia is carried out in large areas, in 2022 about 633.841 farms and 29.301.392 animals were reported. Traditional systems with low technology generate a negative impact on soils, affecting physical and chemical conditions. Therefore, it is important to implement management alternatives that guarantee sustainability and profitability. Through an alliance between FAO and AGROSAVIA, the effect of the three systems was evaluated during two periods of time: silvopastoral with an arrangement in a strip-grazing pasture (SPS), silvopastoral with grasslands renewal (GRS), and traditional grazing on grasslands (TS), on physical and chemical properties of the soil. A split-plot experimental design was used, a two-way multivariate analysis of variance (two-way MANOVA) was applied (productive system and sampling time), and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a 5% Tukey's test. Using the ArcGIS® Pro 2.9.0 (ESRI®) software, the results of the previously georeferenced samplings were interpolated, using the inverse distance weighting technique (IDW) and the Moran's Index, to verify the type of distribution of the variables influenced by the factors. The MANOVA indicated that individual factors had a significant effect on electrical conductivity (EC), Na, and P, and interaction of factors on Fe, Cu, Mn, particle density (PD), and moisture retention (MR). On the other hand, through the ANOVA, significant differences were identified, registering higher EC, P, MR, and lower PD in SPS, higher content of Fe and Mn in GRS and Cu in TS.

The southern zone of the department of Córdoba Colombia, for more than two decades has been promoting the cultivation of cocoa as a productive alternative in the replacement of illicit crops. There is no evidence of a study documenting the technical and economic characterization of the cocoa production system. The objective of this work was to analyze the production system from a technical and economic point of view. The sample is made up of 158 farmers selected at random. The information included aspects related to this production system in the municipalities of Montelíbano, Puerto Libertador, Tierralta and Valencia. The economic returns were obtained by the technique of the concession with producers with experience. The producers with an average age of 57 years of which 77% are male and 23% are women, about the educational level, basic primary predominates with 54% and 20% not having access to any level of schooling. The production model is that of family farming, average yields are 570 k/ha-1. The average income per year is 5,687,500 $/ha-1 the costs are 5,041,015 COP. per hectare which allows the generation of surpluses. The internal rate of return is 36% higher than the capital opportunity cost. It is concluded that with the local technology the costs are recovered, and generate surpluses for the producer of 1658,984 COP per hectare per year.

Inoculation between bacteria and fungi can be an efficient and viable alternative for production of horticultural crops. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of co-inoculation between Trichoderma harzianum and the biostimulant ME-50® on the growth promotion and productivity of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and green beans [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpen]. Two experiments under garden conditions were carried out, in a 2×2 factorial arrangement, in a random blocks with five replicates, to evaluate the effects of inoculation (100 mL L−1) and not inoculation to the soil with the bioestimulant ME-50® in combination with seed inoculation (100 mL L−1) and non-inoculation seeds with T. harzianum strain A-34 to improve the growth (height, leaf area and dry matter of leaves and stems) and productivity (number, length and mass of fruits and yield) of cucumber and green beans. Inoculation with the biostimulant ME-50® promoted greater growth and productivity of cucumber and green bean plants compared to the inoculation with T. harzianum. However, coinoculation between both biostimulants was more efficient in the growth and development of both plant species; increasing the productivity of cucumber (133 %) and green beans (138 %). The results of this study suggest that coinoculation between the biostimulant ME-50® and T. harzianum has a synergistic, efficient and viable effect on the growth and productivity of cucumber and green beans plants, being considered useful in organic, ecological and sustainable of the crops.

There is a range of processed foods that satisfy hunger, but do not nourish, causing a progressive decline in human health; however, bread enriched with micronutrients has a beneficial effect on health, contributing to the functioning of the organism. The objective of this research was to develop a functional bakery product based on wheat and butternut squash flours from two cultivars; An experimental work with six T0 treatments was proposed: 100% wheat flour (WF) – 0% butternut squash flour (BSF); T1: 80% WF – 20% BSF; T2: 85% WF – 15% BSF; T3: 90% WF – 10% BSF; T4: 95% WF – 5% BSF; T5: 97% WF – 3% BSF and three repetitions per treatment, under a completely randomized design, the chemical, physical and organoleptic properties were evaluated in each treatment by cultivating; for sensory testing, the sensory test was performed. The results indicated that all the treatments have a protein content between 9.59 - 9.78% and total carotenoids between 18.60 - 26.44 µg./g. on a dry basis; the sensory test Friedman established that the best treatment using flour from the Abanico 75 cultivar was T3 for flavor and color characteristics, and T4 for palatability, and when using flour from the Dorado cultivar for the same characteristics, the best treatment was T3 with 10% of butternut squash flour.

Biological control is a potential and sustainable option to deal with crop production and yield problems affected by insects or pathogenic microorganisms. In vanilla crop, obtaining the natural scent present in its fruits is limited, mainly by diseases that affect commercial crops. The main disease of vanilla crop is root and stem rot (RSR), caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-vanillae and F. oxysporum f. sp. vanillae. We found that the use of endophytic fungi (EF) isolated from healthy or asymptomatic plants requires systematic research for the selection of the most effective species to control pathogens, particularly in this crop. Additionally, there is no evidence reported with respect to this topic, in spite of, the use of these microorganisms is a natural alternative in other crops, compared to the use of agrochemicals used in traditional agriculture. This review addresses the perspective, and raises the need for research on the potential use of endophytic fungi as biological control agents of fungal pathogens in cultivated plants, emphasizing the relationship Endophytic fungi-Vanilla-pathogenic Fusarium.

The development and production of bananas are influenced by spatio-temporal edaphoclimatic conditions, which explains in a certain way the heterogeneous response that occurs on the farms, highlighting the need to generate information regarding the morphological characteristics of fruit for taking corrective actions that entail to increased productivity. The objective of this research was to carry out an analysis of production, taking into account the quantifiable variables through bunches profiling. 98,956 bunches recorded in a period of 108 weeks between 2021 and 2022 were analyzed in ten farms of two banana groups in Urabá-Antioquia, in the municipalities of Turbo, Apartadó and Carepa. Variables such as: cluster age, cluster weight, number of hands, basal-apical calibration, basal-apical length, removal of fingers and hands in the field. The R 4.2.1 software was used, with which a Spearman correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was obtained and for comparison of means, a Kruskal post-hoc was done. Statistical differences were identified (p-value<2.2e-16) and the highest correlations were between age-weight (0.24), age-basal calibration (0.23) and number of hands-weight (0.45). These results indicate that harvest profiling is a practical and agile method that allows quantifying morphological variables of the bunches, making yield projections and adjusting agronomic management depending on the specifications of the marketer.

The resistance of Cape gooseberry to Fusarium oxysporum was evaluated in 70 accessions of Physalis peruviana and related taxa (P. philadelphica, P. ixocarpa, P. floridana, P. pubescens, P. angulata, P. pruinosa, P. viscosa, P. mexicana, Nicandra physalodes, and Solanum auriculatum). These accessions were obtained from different national and international collections, including accessions from the Colombian productive sector. These represented wild materials, commercial cultivars, native and foreign weeds, and commercial ecotypes from the main producing countries: Colombia, South Africa, Kenya, and Peru. The evaluation of resistance to F. oxysporum was carried out under greenhouse conditions using the most aggressive strain supplied by the Fusarium collection maintained by the molecular microbiology laboratory of the Center for Biotechnology and Bioindustry (CBB), currently in charge of the Working Collection of Microorganisms of Agrosavia, which was isolated from infected fields. The symptoms were monitored using a severity scale, containing 10 degrees and five categories. Data information obtained from daily evaluations was analyzed through a severity evaluation and different statistical analyses. The results identified one accession belonging to Physalis peruviana and two related taxa (Physalis floridana and Solanum auriculatum) as resistant to this pathogen. These accessions could be directly used in breeding programs, either as improved cultivars or as race-specific resistance donors for other Physalis peruviana genotypes.