Change and development of microbial flora kars kashar cheese during pre-maturation period

It is known that the ripening of Kars Kashar takes a long time with the production method that has reached to the present day. It is thought that ripening can occur in a shorter time by detecting and using the lactic flora in the structure of the cheese during the ripening period as a starter culture in cheese production and this will be a very important development for the product. This thesis study has been carried out in order to determine the microbial flora found in the structure of Kars kashar cheese during its pre-maturation period. In the context of the thesis study, 6 Kars kashar cheese samples that had just been produced were obtained from different production places in Kars province and their some physical, chemical, microbiological characteristics and changes and development occuring in microbial flora of them were investigated during the pre-maturation period. After spreading from the cheese samples over appropriate media, a total of 533 bacteria, yeast and mold isolates were obtained. After RAPD-PCR and rep-PCR procedures applied to the isolates, PCR products were subjected to sequence analysis. Through these processes, bacteria, yeast and mold groups were defined, thus predominant species were identified in cheese samples and the phylogenetic similarities between these species were determined. In conclusion, 285 bacterial isolates identified consisted of 37 Lb. paracasei, 24 Lb. rhamnosus, 24 S. thermophilus, 13 Lb. graminis, 12 Lb. mindensis, 11 Lb. fermantum and 8 Lb. plantarum. In addition to these species, species like E.faecium, and E. faecalis that may be NSLAB were identified among other bacterial groups. Of the 168 yeast-mold flora, 131 were found to be yeast and 37 were mold. Of the yeast isolates identified, 54 were P. kudriavzevii, 11 were C. parapsilosis, 24 were C. zeylanoides, 20 were K. marxionus, 19 were K. lactis, 2 were D. hansenii and 1 were Y. lipolytica. Of the mold isolates, 23 were identified as P. crastum, 8 as P. kewense, 4 as P. commune and 2 as G. candidum. These results have confirmed the existence of biodiversity in the microflora of Kars Kashar during the pre-maturation period and revealed the necessity of developing the current production method with the addition of starter culture.