Effect Inoculant of Trichoderma viride and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mixed Culture on Chemical Composition, Fiber, Digestibility, and Theobromine Cocoa Pod Fermentation

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the effect of Trichoderma viride and Saccharomyces cerevisiae inoculant on chemical compositions, digestibility, and theobromine content of fermented cocoa pod. The experiment consisted of four treatments, namely cocoa pods without fermentation as control (R0); fermentation of cocoa pods with innoculant T. viride (R1); fermentation of cocoa pods with innoculant S. cerevisiae (R2); and fermentation of cocoa pods with innoculant T. viride and S. cerevisiae mixed culture (R3). Each treatment had three replications, cocoa pod was fermented for 10 days. Variables observed were: chemical compositions i.e. dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fiber (CF), nitrogen free extract (NFE), fiber fraction (neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber), in vitro digestibility, and theobromine content. Data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance and followed by Duncan’s new multiple range test (DMRT), if there were any significant differences. Results showed the inoculum affected (P<0.05) the chemical composition, fiber fraction and in vitro digestibility. However, theobromine was not detected neither in cocoa pod without fermentation nor in fermentation. Compared to the control group, inoculation with T. viride and S. cerevisiae mixed culture (P<0.05) resulted in higher DM content (92.78 vs 89.72% respectively), higher CP (7.43 vs 5.63% respectively), higher NDF (79.41 vs 61.18% respectively), higher ADF (73.04 vs 47.94% respectively), but was not significantly different on DM and OM digestibility (21.22 vs 22.24% and 22.67 vs 24.31% respectively) than cocoa pod without fermentation. It is concluded that inoculant T. viride and S. cerevisiae mixed culture increased CP content, but had no effect on in vitro digestibility.