**1. Introduction**

In the agricultural fields of some sectors of the district of Oxapampa, it has been detected that farmers are applying agrochemicals in excess during the production process of granadilla fruit (*Passiflora ligularis*), generating environmental

contamination, which must be evaluated and made known community-wide to take corrective measures regarding the concentration of possible heavy metals that would be found in the soil, runoff water from rainfall, and fruits. Everyone's concern is to contribute to the knowledge of environmental contamination in the agricultural sectors. The most important environmental and social consequences of the use of agrochemicals are: persistence of the agrochemical, bioaccumulation, soil and water pollution by agrochemical residues [1].

Under this evidence found in the agricultural activity, human health is put at risk due to the consumption of fruits contaminated with toxic residues of heavy metals. Pesticides cause damage to the environment, to the cultivation soil, and to the water so it is inadmissible that the same practices continue to be carried out in agricultural management [2]. One of the main characteristics of heavy metals is their level of toxicity according to their concentration in the habitat they are found. This has been the subject of many studies in order to evaluate the mechanisms involved in their toxicity and their harmful effects on human beings. For example, mercury is one of the environmental contaminants with the greatest negative impact [3].

There are studies in many countries of the world on the negative effects caused by agrochemicals. They report that vegetable species presented concentrations of lead and arsenic that did not exceed the reference regulations; however, in the case of medicinal plants, arsenic was found in 0.2 mg/kg, so it is recommended that it is necessary to monitor whether the content of this heavy metal is due to the use of chemical substances in soil where it was cultivated [4]. Studies carried out on samples of *Tessaria integrifolia* leaves from Trujillo, La Libertad, found concentrations of lead at 2.022 mg/kg, cadmium at 0.155 mg/kg, mercury at 0.073 mg/kg, and arsenic at 0.308645 mg/kg [5]. This is evidence that contamination exists in different places and under different conditions.

The purpose of the research was to determine the comparative difference in concentration of heavy metals between the sampling groups according to the intensity of application of agrochemicals during the agricultural management of the granadilla fruit crop, so it raises the hypothesis that "the different agrochemical application intensities during the management of the granadilla (*P. ligularis*) crop in three sampling groups (A, B and C), generate significant differences in the content of heavy metals in the fruit, soil and runoff water, in the district of Oxapampa."

For this, surveys were planned and carried out among the farmers to select according to the frequency of application of agrochemicals the sample size of the geographical area that was 55 Ha in full production of granadilla, from where soil, runoff water, and fruit samples were taken, based on the protocols defined by the Chemical Analysis Laboratory (USAQ) of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the National University of San Marcos (UNMSM) Lima, Peru, and for the chemical analysis of heavy metals, an atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used.

Codes were defined (see appendices) that identify the origin of the different samples, achieving the study of three groups of farmers who apply agrochemicals in the granadilla fruit production process at different frequencies in various sectors.
