Artículo
New Characteristics in the Fermentation Process of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) “Super Árbol” in La Joya de los Sachas, Ecuador
Registro en:
EC-INIAP-SR Joya de los Sachas (INIA/ART2022)
Autor
Sanchez-Capa, Maritza
Viteri-Sanchez, Samuel
Burbano-Cachiguango, Armando
Abril-Donoso, Mauricio
Vargas-Tierras, Tannia
Suarez-Cedillo, Sandra
Mestanza-Ramón, Carlos
Resumen
In Ecuador, since 2005 in the northern Amazon, trinitario hybrid cacao mother plants
characterized by early and abundant fruiting, known as “Super árbol”, have been identified. This
genetic material was disseminated in the region, but most of the available information corresponds
to empirical knowledge. In this sense, the present study aimed to evaluate different fermentation
techniques in the “Super árbol” cocoa by analyzing physical and chemical variables in the climatic
conditions of the Joya de Los Sachas canton to establish differences between the group of genetic
material of the “Super árbol” cocoa with respect to the “Arriba” variety, which is considered a
reference in Ecuador. The physical and chemical parameters evaluated were: fermentation rate,
weight of 100 beans, pH cotyledon, beans shell, protein, ash, lipid, and total polyphenols. The study
was conducted under a completely randomized design with three factors. A Spearman correlation
analysis was performed, followed by the establishment of a model for each variable and the use
of Tukey’s test to establish the difference between means of treatments and a Levene’s test to test
homogeneity. The “Super árbol” cocoa reported fermentation percentages between 64.33 and 95%,
testa percentages between 13.28 and 18.08%, and polyphenol content between 48.46–55.54 GAE/g
DW. Thus, this genetic material of the “Super árbol” trinity group has characteristics that reach higher
fermentation percentages compared with the “Arriba” variety. Research Group YASUNI-SDC, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Sede Orellana,
El Coca 220001, Ecuador; tannia.vargas@espoch.edu.ec (T.V.-T.); cmestanza@us.es (C.M.-R.)
2 Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Crta de Utrera Km 1,
41013 Seville, Spain 3 National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), Central Experimental Station of the Amazon (EECA),
La Joya de Los Sachas 220101, Ecuador; samuel.viteri@iniap.gob.ec (S.V.-S.); remigio.burbano@iniap.gob.ec (A.B.-C.) 4 Directorate of Statistics and Analysis of Health Information, Ministry of Public Health, Quito 170702, Ecuador; mauricio.abril@msp.gob.ec 5 Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Sede Orellana, El Coca 220001, Ecuador;
sandra.suarez@espoch.edu.ec * Correspondence: maritzac.sanchez@espoch.edu.ec