El desafío del cadmio en cacao: Ciencia, biotecnología y soluciones naturales

Abstract

The T. cocoa as a raw material has its economic and productive importance in Ecuador, the elaboration of derivatives for export must comply with the regulation of the European Union 2021/1323 where cadmium limits should not exceed 0,80 mg Kg-1, the objective of this research was evaluate the use of efficient microorganisms in the fermentative mass of cocoa by adding two fruit extracts (Banana and Apple) 3% (60mL) in two Provinces (Manabí and Esmeraldas), two types of commercial microorganisms Albiobatch and COMERCIAL were used whose application represented 20% (400 mL), and its incidence in the reduction of cadmium, a (DCA) was used, Trifactorial 2 * 2 * 2 aggregate + 2, two controls without application (1 Manabí and 2 Esmeraldas) with an arrangement of 10 treatments s and 3 repetitions, It was established in boxes microfermentadores type Rohán with capacity of 2 kg per sample unit, morphological measurements of the fruit were made (cob index, total weight, loin lake, shell width, number of almonds per ear and weight of almonds), during the fermentation process the temperature, pH, ºBrix were evaluated, after 4 days of fermentation the cocoa almonds were dried in the sun for a time of 6 days until an average humidity between 6 to 7% was achieved, to measure the quality of the grain we proceeded by the cutting test according to the INEN 176/2018. Subsequently, by the quartering method for each treatment, a compact sample of 1 kg was obtained, for the measurement of cadmium the almonds were subjected to a perchloric nitro digestion following the USDAP method 3050B and were determined using atomic absorption spectrometry with graphite furnace. The results obtained by the variables studied morphological of the fruit in index of mazorca was 12,0g total weight 893,47g, length of the loin 24,50cm, width 9,67cm, cáscara 642,00cm, number of almondss 63, weight of almonds 222,33g. The application of efficient microorganisms and extracts in the fermentation stage had a conclusive effect based on the variable pH from 3,15 – 5,69, while in °Brix its behavior is linear decreasing starting at 19,23 - 5,48, in the variable temperature initially was 32 – 48,67 ° C, in addition index of seed, %testa and cotiledon, cutting test showed that by inducing COMERCIAL + Banana in Manabí had 93.33% of fermented grains decreasing the amount of violet grains, moldy grains and eliminating the presence of slate grains. The use of Albiobtch and COMERCIAL during cocoa fermentation is an important strategy that allowed a decrease of cadmium in cocoa almonds for the province of Esmeraldas of 63% and Manabí 58% respectively.