## 3 Results
### Principal Components in Umqombothi during the Production Process  
Principal component analysis was applied to the data to simplify the interpretation of the data. As shown in Figure 4, the PCA reduced the measured variables of the Umqombothi production process to three main components (F1, F2, and F3). F1 and F2 (Figure 4A) explained 67.4%, F1 and F3 (Figure 4B) explained 65.6%, and F2 and F3 (Figure 4C) explained 59% of the total data variance, respectively, for the Umqombothi production process involving different particle sizes. Figure 4 was created to explore the positive relationship between the parameters studied during the sampling stages. As shown in Figure 4, the variances could be separated into two groups. The first group is composed of color and the second group comprises microbes. Figure 4A shows that a positive correlation was found between the F1 (chroma, yellowness, redness, alcohol, gravity) and F2 components (mold, pH, LAB, yeast syneresis, TPC).  
There was also a negative correlation between these compounds. Figure 4B, shows a positive correlation between the F1 (yellowness, redness, chroma, Brix) and F3 components (TPC, LAB, yeast). However, there was a negative correlation between these compounds and sampling stages before the second fermentation, \"after cooking\", after the first and after the second fermentation. Figure 4C, shows a positive correlation between the F2 (LAB, TPC, yeast, hue angle) and F3 components (chroma, yellowness, redness, Brix). No variance was strongly correlated to before the second fermentation (after cooking) sampling stage. As shown in (Figure 4D), the measured variable of Umqombothi with different particle sizes was reduced to two main components (F1 and F2) by the PCA, namely F1 and F2, explaining 100% of the total data variance. A positive correlation was found between the F1 component (syneresis, yeast, gravity, Brix, coliforms), strongly correlated with the fine powder particle size, and the F2 component (TPC, LAB, mold, pH).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Total Coliforms (cfu/mL)**} \\ \hline
**Sampling Stages** & **Control** & **Coarse Powder** & **Fine Powder** \\ \hline First sample & 4.82 \(\pm\) 0.04 a & 4.86 \(\pm\) 0.06 a & 5.16 \(\pm\) 0.05 a \\ Second sample & 4.63 \(\pm\) 0.03 b & 3.52 \(\pm\) 0.07 b & 3.79 \(\pm\) 0.06 b \\ Third sample & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c \\ Fourth sample & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c & 3.79 \(\pm\) 0.02 d & 3.74 \(\pm\) 0.03 d \\ Fifth sample & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c & 0.00 \(\pm\) 0.00 c \\ \hline Overall particle size & 1.89 \(\pm\) 2.39 a & 2.43 \(\pm\) 2.11 b & 2.54 \(\pm\) 2.21 c \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* The determination is the mean value \(\pm\) standard deviation in triplicate. There is a substantial (\(p\leq 0.05\)) difference in the mean values in the same column separated by distinct characters (different superscript letters). Before the first fermentation (first sample), after the first fermentation (second sample), before the second fermentation (third sample), after the second fermentation (fourth sample) and, lastly, the final product (fifth sample).  
\end{table}
Table 15: The effect of particle sizes on the total coliform count of Umqombothi *.  
Figure 4: Principal component analysis (PCA) of the three different particle sizes used during the Umgomboth production process. A correlation was studied between (**A**) (F1-**F2**), (**B**) (F1-F3), (**C**) (F2-**F3**) and (**D**) (F1-**F2**).