Marine Macroalgae Bioextract Changes the Index of Reflectance in Pepper Plants

Pepper is one of the five crops with the largest plantation area under a protected cultivation, both in Brazil and in several countries, mainly due to the increase in productivity, fruit quality and obtaining good market prices. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is a perennial Solanaceous plant grown as an annual crop. The largest world producers are Mexico, the United States, Italy, Japan, India and Brazil [1]. Chlorophylls are responsible for collecting the energy contained in photons from sunlight, and for its transduction, in the form of electrochemical potential through photosynthetic membranes, which ultimately serve to reduce atmospheric CO2 to twenty-two carbohydrates. Therefore, the light energy absorbed by the leaves can only be transferred to the biochemical stage of photosynthesis through processes mediated by chlorophylls. The levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the leaves are used to estimate the photosynthetic potential of plants, due to their direct connection to the absorption and transfer of light energy and, consequently, with their acclimatization and growth in different environments [2].