Resumo

During the 1980’s, Brazil was highlighted in the world cocoa market as a large producer, reaching historical marks of, 400,000 tons of dry almonds and a productivity of 750 kg/ha, the largest in the global context at that time. From the 90’s, there was a decrease in the Brazilian productivity due to the dissemination of the “witches’ broom” disease (caused by fungus Moniliophtora perniciosa). The intensive efforts to control the “witches' broom” fungus in Brazil have included research on resistant and more productive cocoa cultivars, but the impact of these crosses on cocoa fermentation is not known. To understand the effects of breeding on cocoa fermentation, this work investigated the microbes and chemical compounds present during the fermentation of three highly productive hybrids (PH 9, PH 15 and PH 16). The microbial succession during the fermentation process of the three hybrids were similar, with yeast dominating the first 24 hours, subsequently Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), and, finally, Acetic Acid Bacteria (AAB) were the most representative until the end of the fermentation. However, the measures of LAB (3.91 CFU/mL), AAB (4.49 CFU/mL), yeast (3.13 CFU/mL) and mesophilic aerobic (2.48 CFU/mL) populations, during the fermentation of the PH 9 clone, were more elevated than those found in the fermentation process of clones PH 15 and PH 16. Lactobacillus fermentum, L. casei and L. rhammnosus were the predominant species in all hybrid cocoa fermentations. However, the profile of the bacterial community detected by PCR-DGGE was more complex in the PH 9 fermentation. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was predominant in the all fermentations,followed by Hanseniaspora uvarum and the genus Pichia. A similar profile of substrate consumption (glucose, sucrose, fructose and citric acid) and kinetics of major metabolites (ethanol, acetic acid and lactic acid) was also observed, but the PH 16 hybrid presented the highest concentrations of sugars, acids and alcohols.