IDENTIFICATION OF LACTIC-ACID BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM TARHANA DURING FERMENTATION

In this study three different types of tarhana were produced and 107 l actic acid bacteria were isolated during the fermentation of tarhanas. For isolation, MRS agar and M17 agar were used. Only 86 out of 107 is olates could be subjected to the further cultural and biochemical iden tification tests. Of these, 35 isolates could be well identified as La ctobacillus plantarum (14 isolates), Lact. casei subsp. pseudoplantaru m (7 isolates), Lact. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (1 isolate), Lact. helveticus (2 isolates), Lact. fermentum (2 isolates), Lact. brevis ( 6 isolates) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides (3 isol ates). Forty two isolates could also be identified bur they differed f rom typical strains of related lactic acid bacteria on the basis of th eir one or more cultural and biochemical characteristics. The remainin g 9 isolates could not be correctly characterized into species by the identification tests used in the present study.