Isolation and identification of cultivable lactic acid bacteria from traditional goat milk cake in Yunnan province of China

Thirteen goat milk cake samples which were collected from different households in Yunnan province in China were used for isolation and identification of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The results showed that LAB and yeasts were the dominant microflora in the samples with the LAB counts in all samples ranged from 8.32 log(10) CFU/g to 10.16 log(10) CFU/g. The number of yeasts in most samples ranged from 1.60 log(10) CFU/g to 6.15 log(10) CFU/g respectively. Seventy-six strains of LAB were isolated from these samples and identified by conventional and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis methods. The LAB strains were found to belong to five general and nine different species, among which the ratio of cocci bacteria (96.1%) was higher than that of rod (3.9%), and was considered to be the major population. The results also showed that Lactococcus lactis, subsp. lactis (72.4%) and Lactococcus garvieae (10.5%) could be considered as the dominant groups population in these samples. The obtained LAB pure cultures may serve as valuable sources for further selection of starter cultures in dairy industry.