. 2020 Oct 21;10:17931. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-74586-9

Table 1.

Microbiological counts (Log CFU g⁻¹) and pH in the herbs samples in different days and month of the PTB.

	pH	Aerobic bacteria	Mesoph. LAB	Thermoph. LAB	Entero-bacteria	Yeasts	Moulds
July
day 0	6.2 ± 0.43^a	6.7 ± 0.18^a	n. d.^a	n. d.^a	3.8 ± 0.59^a	n. d.^a	n. d.^a
day 2	6.2 ± 0.32^a	7.1 ± 0.51^a	5.3 ± 0.20^b	2.9 ± 0.53^b	4.6 ± 0.57^a	n. d.^a	n. d.^a
day 3	6.6 ± 0.21^ab	8.4 ± 0.29^b	5.9 ± 0.60^b	4.6 ± 0.52^c	5.7 ± 1.13^b	5.9 ± 1.36^c	5.7 ± 0.89^c
day 5	7.6 ± 0.26^b	8.7 ± 0.47^b	5.5 ± 0.74^b	5.1 ± 1.04^c	5.6 ± 0.67^b	2.5 ± 1.44^b	5.4 ± 0.59^c
day 7	7.7 ± 0.22^b	8.7 ± 0.31^b	5.9 ± 0.80^b	5.2 ± 0.87^c	6.2 ± 0.52^b	n. d.^a	3.4 ± 1.20^b
August
Day 0	6.4 ± 0.31^a	7.7 ± 0.46^a	1.2 ± 0.80^a	n. d.^a	4.3 ± 0.70^a	6.0 ± 0.64^c	5.2 ± 0.27^b
Day 2	6.5 ± 0.20^a	8.1 ± 0.60 ^ab	6.2 ± 0.57^b	1.6 ± 0.64^a	5.5 ± 0.99^b	5.4 ± 1.31^c	5.1 ± 0.47^b
Day 3	7.0 ± 0.27^ab	8.4 ± 0.55 ^ab	6.1 ± 0.65^b	4.0 ± 0.64^b	6.5 ± 0.23^b	3.8 ± 0.96^b	4.3 ± 1.09^b
Day 5	7.4 ± 0.29^ab	8.2 ± 0.65 ^ab	5.8 ± 1.04^b	4.3 ± 0.84^b	5.8 ± 0.67^b	n. d.^a	4.5 ± 0.87^b
Day 7	7.6 ± 0.15^b	8.8 ± 0.42^b	5.9 ± 0.87^b	5.7 ± 0.94^c	5.7 ± 0.71^b	n. d.^a	3.2 ± 0.84^a
October
Day 0	7.4 ± 0.32	9.1 ± 0.46 ^b	7.4 ± 0.80^bc	3.8 ± 1.55^a	5.0 ± 0.70^a	7.8 ± 0.64	6.7 ± 0.27 ^ab
Day 2	7.4 ± 0.74	8.9 ± 0.60 ^ab	7.2 ± 0.57^bc	4.5 ± 0.64^a	5.1 ± 0.99^a	7.7 ± 1.31	7.0 ± 0.47 ^ab
Day 3	7.0 ± 1.10	9.4 ± 0.55 ^b	7.6 ± 0.65^c	5.6 ± 0.64^b	5.9 ± 0.23^ab	7.8 ± 0.96	7.7 ± 1.09 ^b
Day 5	7.7 ± 0.33	8.1 ± 0.65 ^a	6.4 ± 1.04^b	6.2 ± 0.84^b	5.8 ± 0.67^ab	8.8 ± 1.48	6.6 ± 0.87 ^a
Day 7	7.8 ± 0.24	7.6 ± 0.42 ^a	4.9 ± 0.87^a	5.1 ± 0.94^ab	6.7 ± 0.71^b	8.1 ± 0.96	6.4 ± 0.84 ^a

Results are showed as mean values ± standard deviations of three replicates for each point of sampling (5 and 40 cm) for a total of six values. For a given column and month, microbial count or pH values with a, b and c superscripts are significantly different (p < 0.05).

n. d.: not detected or present in traces lower than 1.0 LOG cfu g⁻¹.