CANCHADA YERBA MATÉ: GENERIC IDENTIFICATION OF FILAMENTOUS FUNGI.

AYELÉN TAYAGÜI, MARÍA L. CASTRILLO, GLADIS JERKE, MARTA A. HORIANSKI, Y MIRIAM MARTINEZ

Villa Carlos Paz, Cordoba, Argentina

Congreso; VI CONGRESO ARGENTINO DE MICROBIOLOGÍA GENERAL; 2009

Canchada yerba maté is one of the ways of marketing of yerba maté that is obtained in the early stages of development of the traditional yerba maté through the coarse grinding of dry leaves after sapecado and drying. Due to the temperatures at which maté is subjected during processing, to direct fire on the stage of sapecado and high temperatures during drying, the bacterioflora is practically eliminated while the mycoflora that, on one hand can withstand these conditions and on the other,  can reach the product during its acquisition, is an important microbiological parameter to evaluate. The purpose of this study was the generic identification of isolated fungi in canchada yerba maté that came from various establishments in the province of Misiones. We analyzed a total of 20 samples of canchada yerba maté, taken from different shops and markets in the center and the suburbs of the city of Posadas,Misiones. We performed total fungal counting (molds and yeasts) using the method of dilution in plates by surface spreading in the culture medium of fungi and yeasts after 5 to 7 days of incubation at 25 ± 1 º C. The generic characterization of strains of filamentous fungi was made on the basis of macro-micromorphology of the colonies, taking into account their fruiting bodies according to taxonomic keys. Of all the fungal isolated strains (molds and yeasts), 4% corresponded to fungi yeasts and 96% to filamentous fungi. Among the filamentous fungi the identified genera with their corresponding percentage of occurrence were: Aspergillus 75%, Emericella 8.4%, Cladosporium 5.8%, Penicillium 2.1%, Trichophytom 2.1%, Aureobasidium 1.3%, Microsporum 1%, Alternaria 1%, Blastoschizomyces 1%, Chrysosporium 0.7%, Rhizopus 0.7%,  Curvularia 0.5%, Fusarium 0.2% and Phaeoannellomyces 0.2%.  Consistent with findings of previous studies, in canchada yerba maté there was a predominance of filamentous fungi, being Aspergillus the genus of more incidence. In substrates such as black tea there was 92% of molds and 66% Aspergillus and in traditional yerba maté 90% of filamentous fungi and 82% of Aspergillus.