Identification of lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria of lampung cocoa beans fermentation

The quality of chocolate influenced by cocoa varieties, growth conditions, and fermentation. As a part of post-harvesting treatments, cocoa beans fermentation affects biochemical transformations resulting in the aroma, color, and taste of chocolate. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acetic acid bacteria (AAB) along with yeasts are involved during during cocoa beans fermentation. In this study, the diversity of LAB and AAB of cocoa beans fermentation from Lampung will be identified. Fortykgs of cocoa beans undergo spontaneous box fermentation for five days, with 24 hours intervals of sampling. DeManRogosa Sharpe (MRS) Agar and Glucose Yeast Peptone (GYP) Agarwere used for LAB and AAB enumeration, respectively. Morphology of each colony were identified and molecular identification by analyzing 16S rRNA gene. As results, the growth of LAB reach its highest level on the zero and fifth day of fermentation to 106 CFU/mL and the growth of AAB reach 106 CFU/mL as well.Lactobacillus plantarum, L. fermentum and L. pentosusare the main species of lactic acid bacteria, and Acetobacterpasteurianusand A. tropicalisas the main species of acetic acid bacteria. These results describe more about the diversity of Indonesian cocoa that could be applied for starter culture development.