Microbiota del fruto de cacao asociada al proceso de fermentación y su influencia en la calidad sensorial

Cocoa quality is defined as the set of attributes that satisfy the needs of the consumer. In cocoa,
these attributes are defined by flavor and aroma, which in turn are determined by the production
system, fruit fermentation and drying process. Previous research has described the composition of
the microbiota; however, this has not been done in Costa Rica. Therefore, the objective of this
research is to determine the composition of the microbiota present in the cocoa pod and its
influence on the fermentation process and sensory quality. For this research, farms located in the
Huetar Norte and Huetar Atlántica regions will be selected. In each region, 3 farms will be selected
based on criteria such as: cocoa plantations with a minimum of 5 years of establishment, which are
in production, with an agroforestry management, and uniform genetic material. Once the farms
have been selected, the agrosystem will be characterized; once the areas within the system have
been defined, a completely randomized sampling of at least 20 fruits will be carried out, from which
the microbiota will be isolated. Subsequently, the cocoa beans will be fermented according to the
methodology described by the International Standards for the Evaluation of Cocoa Quality and
Flavor (ISCQF). During this process, samples will be collected, and microbiota isolations will be
carried out. Both the microbiota of the fruits and that of the fermentation process will be identified
by morphological characteristics, as well as the extraction and sequencing of DNA. Finally, the
samples will be subjected to a sensory analysis by an expert evaluation panel with the standards
established by ISCQF. The results of the microbiota identification will be subjected to a
bioinformatics analysis, a functional prediction analysis will be performed. In the case of bacterial
communities, the PICRUSt2 software will be used, while for fungal communities, the FUNGuild
package will be used. In addition, to identify differences in abundance between taxonomic groups
by study site, a differential abundance analysis will be performed using the ASV composition table
at the genus level and a negative binomial Wald test implemented by the R DESeq2 package. The
results of the sensory quality will be subjected to an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and clusters,
using the JMP program. This research is expected to identify microorganisms that will allow for
commercial differentiation in regional, national, and international markets.

Determinar la composición del microbiota presente en la
mazorca de cacao y su influencia en el proceso de fermentación y calidad sensorial.

1. Sistemas de producción agrícola sostenible