Incidence of land and physicochemical composition of apples on the qualitative and quantitative development of microbial flora during cider fermentations

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts were numerated, isolated and identified from ciders prepared with the same variety of apple from apple trees grown on three different lands: silt, siliceous clay and green clay. The land has an incidence on the time (earliness) of ripeness of the apples and on their sugar content and, therefore, on the development of the microbial flora in the ciders obtained from these fruits. The same genera of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria were isolated from the three ciders, except the yeast Candida famata exclusively found in the must obtained from apples grown on silt. At the quantitative level, the highest development of yeasts was observed in the must from the land green clay whereas lactic acid bacteria growth was enhanced in the must from the land siliceous clay.