Selection of raw cow’s milk thermophilic lactic acid bacteria obtained from southwest Parana, Brazil, with potential use as autochthonous starter

Abstract This work aimed to isolate and identify Streptococcus and Lactobacillus species from raw cow’s milk obtained from Southwest Paraná - Brazil. We used randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR to identify and type 58Streptococcus and 48 Lactobacillus isolates, of which 04 Streptococcus thermophilus and 02 Streptpcoccus macedonicus were confirmed by species-specific PCR and by sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA of 02Streptococcus lutetiensis/infantarius, 10 Lactobacillus fermentum, 03 Lactobacillus delbrueickii subspecies bulgaricus, 01 Lactobacillus rhamnosus/casei and 02 Lactobacillus helveticus. The results indicated predominance of Streptococcus thermophillus and Lactobacillus fermentum. Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueickii subspecies bulgaricus strains were tested on the basis of their acidification kinetics. Considerable variation between the Streptococcus thermophilus was observed for the maximum rate of acidification (Vm), with a maximum of -4.5 and minimum of -4.2 pH milliunits min-1. The Lactobacillus delbrueickii subspecies bulgaricus showed values between -8.4 and -7.1 pH milliunits min-1. These results suggest that strains characterized as having a high acidifying capacity, could be used as starters in cheesemaking. The ferments presented an excellent performance in the acidification process, generating adequate curves, characteristics of a starter culture.