African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (15), pp. 1854-1861, 6 August 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Enumeration and identification of lactic microflora in Algerian goats’ milk

Cheriguene, A.^1*, Chougrani, F.¹, Bekada, A. M. A.³, El Soda, M.² and Bensoltane, A.³

¹Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Mostaganem, BP 227 Mostaganem 27000 Algeria.

²Department of Dairy Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Laboratory of Microbial Biochemistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

³Laboratoire de Microbiologie Alimentaire et Industrielle, Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université d'Oran Es Senia, Algeria

*Corresponding author. E-mail: acheriguen@univ-mosta.dz.  

Accepted 10 July, 2007

A total of 153 strains of lactic acid bacteria were isolated from Algerian goats’ milk. The strains were identified according to morphological, biochemical and physiological criteria, as well as the use of the API system and SDS-PAGE technique. Identification of the isolates revealed the presence of six genera: Enterococcus (41.82%), Lactobacillus (29.40), Lactococcus (19.60%), Leuconostoc (4.57%), Streptococcus thermophilus (3.26%) and Pediococcus (1.30%). The predominant strains belong to Enterococcus faecium (24 isolates), Enterococcus durans (22 isolates), Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (25 isolates), Lactobacillus rhamnosus (9 isolates) and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (7 isolates).

Key words: Lactic acid bacteria, goat's milk, identification, enumeration.