## 3 Results and Discussion
### Effect of biochar and Biofertilizer on the Crop Phyalsis Ixxcarpa  
At the beginning of the fruiting stage of the first crop cycle, the greenhouse was flooded due to heavy rains, which caused the plants to be infected by mildew, a fungal foliar pathogen. For this reason, the fruit weight, yield, and height of plants were lower in the first crop cycle than in the second one (Figure 5a,b). CT was the treatment most affected by the infection, which was evident in the weight of fruits and yield, which were lower than those obtained in treatments with biochar (Figure 5a,b). [PERSON] et al. [71] found that biochar induced resistance against two foliar fungal pathogens: grey mold (_Botrytis cinerea_) and powdery mildew (_Levevillula taurica_) on plants of pepper and tomato, and a foliar mite pest (_Polyphagotarsonemus latus_) on pepper plants. They applied 1, 3, and 5% of biochar to sandy soil. According to these authors, biochar induced a defensive systemic response since the suppressive effect against pathogens and pests occurred in the aerial part of the plant while biochar was in the soil. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [72] observed that 5% of biochar added to growth media reduced the progression and physiological stress caused by _Pl Phytophthoraon canker_ in seedlings of _Quercus rubra_ and _Acer rubrum_. [PERSON] et al. [73] proved that in tomatoes affected by _Alternaria solani_, the response protection elicited was dependant on the type of biochar, and it involves both induced systemic resistance and acquired systemic resistance mechanisms. In our study, the addition of 0.2% of biochar may have induced a similar systemic response in _Physalis ixocarpa_ since the plants were less affected by mildew infection in the biochar treatments. The weight of fruits in the second cycle varied from 8.6 to 10.2 g, where CT = BT20 < Bt50 < BBfT. The yields obtained in CT (378 g:plant\({}^{-1}\)) and BBfT (328 g:plant\({}^{-1}\)) were lower than that of BT50 (623 g:plant\({}^{-1}\)) and significantly lower than that of BT20 (730 g:plant\({}^{-1}\)). A possible explanation for this is that the higher addition of Ca and K in CT and BBfT caused a more pronounced Mg deficiency that largely affected yield in these treatments. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [74] have extensively documented yield impairment due to Mg deficiency. As well, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [75] commented that on alkaline soils, MgCO\({}_{3}\) formation and imbalanced concentration of Ca, K, and Na reduce Mg availability, affecting productivity and quality in agriculture. These results pointed out that the importance of maintaining adequate nutrient ratios, not just sufficient concentrations, and that by adding 0.2% of bamboo biochar, it was possible to save between 50 and 80% of fertilizer. In both crop cycles, fruit harvesting began in week 8 in all treatments, except in BBfT, which started in week 7, due to the fact that that the phenological stages were advanced approximately 6 days with respect to the plants of the other treatments. In addition, there was also an increase of approximately 15% in flowering in BBfT. These previous effects observed with BBfT could be due to the auxin and gibberellins content of the biofertilizer (Table 2) because these phytohormes stimulate flowering and growing [54]. [PERSON] et al. [76] found that root growth inhibition is an early symptom of Mg deficiency; if there is not enough Mg, carbohydrates are not efficiently transported from leaves to root, affecting root development. Mg deficiency could explain the significant  
Figure 5: (**a**) Fruit weight and (**b**) Yield of _Physalis ixocarpa_ with different treatments: CT: soil + 100% of chemical fertilization, BT20 and BT50: soil + biochar + 100, 20, or 50% of chemical fertilization, respectively, and BBfT: soil + biochar + biofertilization. Different letters indicate significant difference (\(p<0.05\), Duncan test). diminution in root length in the second cycle, without apparent impairment of aerial growth of plants (Figure 6a,b).