Abstract Garlic is a spice widely used in traditional pickle making. In this study, effects of garlic addition on bacterial communities and dynamic changes of nitrate and nitrite levels in a simulated pickle fermentation system were investigated under different conditions (with/without the inoculation of Lactobacillus plantarum or Escherichia coli). The result showed that garlic addition efficiently enhanced the growth of Lactobacillus and Weissella while inhibited a lot of undesirable microorganisms during the fermentation. Kinetic analysis revealed that garlic addition and L. plantarum inoculation both significantly decreased the conversion of nitrate and eliminated nitrite peak, but led to much higher level of remaining nitrate (above 1000 mg/kg). Correlation analysis suggested that nitrite conversion was mainly related with the growth of lactic acid bacteria, while nitrate conversion depended more on other microorganisms (like E. coli). Based on these results, introducing safe microorganisms with relatively high nitrate reductase activities and balancing the conversions of nitrate and nitrite were suggested for safer pickle production.

中文翻译：

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添加大蒜对模拟腌菜发酵系统中细菌群落及硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐转化的影响

摘要 大蒜是传统泡菜制作中广泛使用的香料。在这项研究中，研究了在不同条件下（有/没有接种植物乳杆菌或大肠杆菌），大蒜添加对细菌群落的影响以及模拟泡菜发酵系统中硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐水平的动态变化。结果表明，大蒜的添加有效促进了乳酸菌和魏氏菌的生长，同时抑制了发酵过程中的大量不良微生物。动力学分析表明，大蒜的添加和植物乳杆菌的接种均显着降低了硝酸盐的转化率并消除了亚硝酸盐的峰值，但导致残留的硝酸盐含量更高（高于 1000 mg/kg）。相关性分析表明，亚硝酸盐转化主要与乳酸菌的生长有关，而硝酸盐转化更多地依赖于其他微生物（如大肠杆菌）。基于这些结果，建议引入具有相对较高硝酸还原酶活性的安全微生物并平衡硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐的转化，以实现更安全的泡菜生产。