ABSTRACT
Fermentation of grape must to wine is carried out by a complex microbial mixture, which also involves spoilage yeasts of wine. The latter yeasts produce organoleptic changes that cause significant economic losses to the wine industry. SO2 is traditionally used to control this spoilage populations, but because of its harmful effects on human health, biocontrol has emerged as an alternative treatment. Although studies have been carried out to select biocontroller yeasts and examine their underlying mechanisms of action, reports on their application have not been published yet. To better understand the interaction and the successful application of biocontrol, the use of mathematical models, among other methods, is important, as they facilitate the prediction of success or failure of the antagonist. The objective of the present study was to use an existing mathematical model to obtain information about the yeast's interaction assayed and to validate its predictive use under different physicochemical conditions during the wine fermentation, and eventually predict biocontrol kinetics. The mathematical model was applied to the fermentation conditions and provided information on the kinetic parameters of the biocontrol interaction and allowed interpretations about other parameters. The model was applied in the different physicochemical conditions for the biocontrol and did not fit correctly to experimental data, and therefore an improvement was proposed which was successful and presented new hypotheses.