**5. Conclusion**

The exploration of the biodiversity of microorganisms in the soils collected from cocoa farms and in cocoa pods showed that it is possible to know natural populations of microorganisms and beneficial interactions for the cacao tree as well as to identify potential antagonists for *Phytophthora* sp. For the two components investigated (soil and pod), the biodiversity appeared to be highly variable both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results obtained in this study showed that it is possible to exploit the biodiversity for the control of the black pod disease due to *Phytophthora palmivora.* Several isolates of *Trichoderma* and some bacterial strains showed a deep antagonistic effect against *P. palmivora* in the laboratory. The study allowed to demonstrate the efficacy of *Trichoderma asperellum* in the control of the black pod disease. This result arouses a great hope for the cocoa farmers whose revenues constantly decline because of this disease. At national level, appropriate measures have been taken to allow a large scale use of *T. asperellum* for the control of the black pod disease in Côte d'Ivoire.
