EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL EXTRACT ACTIVITY OF COCOA NIBS

Studies have shown that cocoa seeds (Theobroma cacao L.), after fermentation and drying, act beneficially for health in cardiovascular diseases, due to relevant quantities of phenolic compounds known for various biological activities, such as antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The objective was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of cocoa extracts from Par. The samples were sun-dried: under tarpaulin (T1, T2 and T3) and in barge (B1, B2 and B3) after 7 days of fermentation. To get the nibs, the grains were cut and separated from the peel and germ, then crushed. The crude extract was obtained using 10 g of samples which were placed in a flask with 50 ml of extraction solution (water, acetic acid and acetone) and stirred for 1h at 25 ° C, followed by vacuum filtration; this process was repeated twice in the filtrate. Total polyphenols (TP) were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method expressed in Equivalent Quercetin per Dry Extract (mgQE.gDE-1). The antibacterial potential (ABP) of extracts was evaluated by the disk diffusion test (DD). Six millimeter paper discs were impregnated with 10 μl of extract against 6 bacteria: B. cereus (Bc), E. faecalis (Ef), S. aureus (Sa), L. monocytogenes (Lm), E. coli (Ec) and S. typhi (St). The halos were measured and expressed in millimeters. BPA is considered as inhibition halos ≥8 mm. The TP ranged from 31.33 (B2) to 40.72 (B3). The mean values of the DD test showed PAE above the reference value, the lowest result was 8.87 ± 0.59 mm for B3 inhibitor Ec and the best results were: 13.65 ± 0.16 mm for extract B3 inhibiting Ef, 12.35 ± 0.64 mm for T1 extract inhibiting Lm and 12.20 ± 0.56 mm for T3 extract inhibiting Sa. It was concluded that cocoa extracts showed excellent antimicrobial activity, regardless of the drying type.