Inhibición del crecimiento in vitro de Bacillus spp sobre hongos asociados al proceso de fermentación en cacao

Ochratoxin A (OTA) producing fungi in cocoa are a food safety problem that affects the organoleptic quality of chocolate and human health. Since the Bacillusspp 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 vitroantagonism of doses of 100 and 200 μL of Bacillusspp was tested against fungi isolated from cocoa beans in the fermentation process: Aspergillus spp and Penicilliumsp. The results of this study show that the strain of B. subtilis31BMC and B. licheniformisE-44 significantly decreased the growth of Aspergillusspp and Penicilliumsp isolates, inhibiting their growth by 74.43% and 81.52%, after three days, respectively. The Bacillusspp strains proved to be effective in the in vitroinhibition of OTA-producing fungi in cocoa beans.