ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIA FROM THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF HULU-MUR FERMENTATION

Isolation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from hulu-mur fermentation, the major drink prepared for the holy month Ramadan in Sudan has been attempted. Feterita sorghum variety was employed to produce hulu-mur using both traditional method and modified method of fermentation by adding starter culture. Sampling was made from different stages of hulu-murfermentation. The counts of total bacteria, LAB, Staphylococci and yeasts and moulds of sorghum dough at different fermentation periods was estimated using standard methods. The results indicated that the total bacterial count, was 5.60 x 106, 2.04 x 108 and 5.83 x 109, while LAB count was 2.12 x 105, 4.04 x 108 and 4.95 x 108 c.f.u/g. However, yeasts and moulds counts were 2.50 x 104, 7.30 x 107 and 9.11 x 107 at zero hour, 12 hours and 24 hours of fermentation, respectively. The LAB strains were identified phenotipically. The study indicated that the LAB indentified in the study belong to four genera and are dominated by Streptococcus and Lactobacillus, followed by Enterococcus and Pediococcus.