A geographical and seasonal assessment of indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in Maltese cow milk was conducted in this study. To investigate this, milk was collected from different regions of Malta during winter and summer seasons. Total viable counts (TVC) and LAB population were enumerated. Afterwards, LAB were isolated and identified by molecular methods. According to the results, similar TVC were enumerated on winter and summer samples, while highest LAB population was detected on summer samples. LAB isolates were grouped in seven different clusters which were assigned to Lactobacillus casei, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Weissella paramesenteroides, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactococcus lactis, and Lactococcus garvieae. In addition, Enterococcus and Streptococcus species were also isolated. Season seemed to affect the genus / species of LAB since Lactobacillus were mainly isolated from winter samples, while Lactococcus and Enterococcus species were the main genera identified in summer samples. Regarding the geographical distribution, the majority of the Lactobacillus spp. were isolated from the South-eastern region in both seasons. In conclusion, through this study the diversity of indigenous LAB in the Maltese cow milk was monitored for the first time and highlighted that the microbial communities are affected by seasonality and geographical distribution of the farms.

中文翻译：

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马耳他群岛牛奶中的土著乳酸菌的特性：地理和季节评估。

这项研究对马耳他牛奶中的本地乳酸菌（LAB）进行了地理和季节评估。为了对此进行调查，在冬季和夏季从马耳他不同地区收集牛奶。列举了总生存计数（TVC）和LAB种群。之后，通过分子方法分离并鉴定了LAB。根据结果​​，在冬季和夏季样品中列举了类似的TVC，而在夏季样品中检测到了最大的LAB种群。LAB分离物分为七个不同的聚类，分别归类为干酪乳杆菌，戊 糖球菌，植物乳 杆菌，副乳 杆菌Weissella，乳杆菌 鼠李糖，乳酸乳 球菌，和乳 丁目。此外，肠球菌和链球菌也被分离出来。季节似乎影响乳酸菌的属/种，因为乳酸杆菌我们主要是从冬季样品中分离出来的，而乳球菌和肠球菌是夏天样品中鉴定的主要属。关于地理分布，大多数乳酸杆菌spp。在两个季节中都与东南地区隔离。总之，通过这项研究，首次监测了马耳他牛奶中本地乳酸菌的多样性，并强调指出，微生物群落受到农场季节性和地理分布的影响。