Abstract

ALCIVAR, Diana Carolina Cedeño; VERA MACIAS, Lenin Antonio; CEDENO GUZMAN, Wilson Paúl  and  VELEZ ZAMBRANO, Sergio Miguel. Inhibition of the in vitro growth of Bacillus spp on fungi associated with the fermentation process in cacao. Manglar [online]. 2023, vol.20, n.3, pp.233-238.  Epub Oct 09, 2023. ISSN 1816-7667.  http://dx.doi.org/10.57188/manglar.2023.026.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) producing fungi in cocoa are a food safety problem that affects the organoleptic quality of chocolate and human health. Since the Bacillus spp strains turn out to be effective biological controls, the objective of this work was to inhibit the growth of OTA-producing fungi. For this, the in vitro antagonism of doses of 100 and 200 µL of Bacillus spp was tested against fungi isolated from cocoa beans in the fermentation process: Aspergillus spp and Penicillium sp. The results of this study show that the strain of B. subtilis 31BMC and B. licheniformis E-44 significantly decreased the growth of Aspergillus spp and Penicillium sp isolates, inhibiting their growth by 74.43% and 81.52%, after three days, respectively. The Bacillus spp strains proved to be effective in the in vitro inhibition of OTA-producing fungi in cocoa beans.

Keywords : Fungal isolates; antagonism; inhibition; biologic control; bioprospecting.

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