Isolation and identification of lactic acid bacteria from traditionally produced home-type pickle

Pickle, is both of traditional and commercial product formed as a result of the fermentation of fruit and/or vegetables. Pickle traditionally prepared with old recipes can be produced in many different ways both in terms of raw materials and chemical properties like salt ratio, acidity etc. In this study our aim is determination microflora available in natural home pickle and identification of the prevalent species of flora. In our project after 41 traditional home-made pickles belong to the different regions were collected, chemical and microbiological analyses were performed and genetic diagnosis of isolated lactic acid bacteria was determined. In our study, microbiological parameters as counts of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, yeast and mold, coliform, enterococci, lactobacilli, lactococci, Staphylococcus aureus and chemical analysis as pH, determination of the amount of salt and acidity were carried out. Also total 176 strains, pickle welded are isolated and grouped as Lactobacillus including 100 of them and Lactococcus including 66 strains and Enterococcus including 10 strains. All isolates are classified according to the similarities with method of RAPD and the diagnosis of isolates representing the group was performed by taking as the reference of 16S rRNA region. As a result of the diagnosis, it was found the groups of Lactobacillus and Lactococcus constituted by Lactobacillus plantarum (two different strains), Pediococcus parvulus, Lactobacillus paracasei, Leuconostoc holzapfel, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and the group of Enterococcus occured from Enterococcus faecium (two different strains). Consequently, it was determined that the dominant flora in home-made pickles was belonged to L. plantarum.