Advances in mineral nutrition and quality of black pepper in Costa Rica

Abstract

Introduction. Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is the most widely consumed spice worldwide. Despite the high productive potential and the quality of the plant material cultivated in Costa Rica, information on the crop's nutritional requirements remains limited. Objective. To quantify nutrient requirements and nutrient uptake in Black pepper plants in order to evaluate crop performance and piperine content. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on a Typic Dystrudepts soil in Río Cuarto, Alajuela, Costa Rica, using a planting density of 1,600 plants ha⁻¹. Destructive sampling of healthy, productive plants was performed to determine biomass, nutrient concentrations, and piperine content. Nutrient uptake was fitted using a deterministic model based on hyperparameter estimation. Results. Biomass distribution varied according to the phenological stage. In one-year-old plants, biomass was mainly allocated to leaves (49%), whereas in two-year-old plants it was primarily concentrated in fruits (38%). In four-year-old plants, biomass was predominantly distributed between stems (43%) and fruits (38%). Macronutrient accumulation followed the order N > K > Ca > Mg > P, whereas micronutrient accumulation followed the order Mn > Fe > Zn > B > Cu > Mo. The average piperine content was 4.6%. Estimated fertilizer requirements were 248 kg ha⁻¹ N, 60 kg ha⁻¹ P₂O₅, 201 kg ha⁻¹ K₂O, 28 kg ha⁻¹ MgO, 82 kg ha⁻¹ CaO, 0.6 kg ha⁻¹ Zn, and 0.4 kg ha⁻¹ B. Conclusion. The nutrient uptake model showed a high goodness-of-fit and reliably described the sigmoidal pattern of nutrient uptake throughout the crop cycle, enabling the estimation of daily nutrient uptake in black pepper cultivation under Costa Rican conditions.