Microbiota of Sardinian Goat's Milk and Preliminary Characterization of Prevalent LAB Species for Starter or Adjunct Cultures Development.

This work was performed to study the microbiota of raw goat's milk (67 samples) collected in different areas of Sardinia, in order to select autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains for use in goat cheese manufacturing. Total mesophilic bacteria ranged between 10 and 10 cfu/mL; mean counts of did not exceed 4 log cfu/mL whereas those of and coagulase-positive staphylococci were lower than 1.5 and 2 log ufc /ml, respectively. Neither spp. nor were recovered. The numbers of total LAB were in the range from 10 to 10 cfu/mL and mean yeasts counts varied between 10 and 10 cfu/mL. The most frequently isolated LAB species were subsp. and . The presence of was also noteworthy. The study of some functional characteristics related to technological properties of the strains belonging to these species allowed to point out some strains possessing good potential for use as adjunct or starter cultures in the production of cheese.