The cashew apple is a juicy and sweet fruit that loses its nutritional quality during the first week after falling from the cashew tree. This degradation is strongly linked to microorganisms that may present beneficial biotechnological potential. Therefore, the objective of this study is to characterize lactic acid bacteria and fermentative yeasts from cashew apples. Cashew apples collected from three localities (Tioro, Morovine, and Waraniene) in the Korhogo department (Northern Côte d’Ivoire) were washed in the laboratory, crushed, and subjected to fermentation. Samples were taken every two days over one week. Morphological studies focused on macroscopic and microscopic analyses of the strains. Physiological and biochemical tests of lactic acid bacteria and yeast isolates were all carried out in tubes. Molecular typing of these isolates was performed using the restriction enzymes DDeI or HinfI, and HaeIII. Characterization of lactic isolates revealed that all lactic acid bacteria isolated were bacillary in shape with catalase activity. They are homofermentative, mesophilic, acidophilic, and do not tolerate salinity beyond 4%. Moreover, they fermented lactose, glucose, maltose, fructose, starch, sucrose, and cellulose. They also produced exopolysaccharides. At the molecular level, all bands were observed at 1500 base pairs. Furthermore, the biochemical profile and enzymatic digestion performed with restriction enzymes identified the genus iLactobacillus/i, specifically iLactobacillus plantarum/i as the presumptive species. Characterization revealed yeasts of oval, elongated shape with lateral budding. Sediments were observed in their growth broths. They degraded urea and produced acetoin. They also fermented various sugars, except cellulose, citrate, and mannitol. All bands were observed at 500 base pairs. Biochemical tests and PCR confirmed that all isolates belonged to the genus iSaccharomyces sp/i. Digestion with restriction enzymes (HaeIII and HinfI) divided them into two groups of iSaccharomyces/i, of which 93.75% were iSaccharomyces cerevisiae/i and 6.25% were iSaccharomyces uvarum/i. The use of these presumptive species could serve in the production of cashew apple wine.
Fofana et al. (Fri,) studied this question.