Table 3. Effect of different starter cultures on total plat count (TPC) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts of dry fermented sausages during fermentation and ripening time.

Attributes	Days	Treatments1)			SEM
		COS	PE1	PE2
TPC	1 day of fermentation	8.15aA	7.40bB	7.97aA	0.27
	7 days of fermentation	7.61bB	8.39aA	7.42bB	0.40
	7 days of ripening	7.25BC	7.33B	7.76A	0.28
	14 days of ripening	6.84aC	6.50aC	6.05bC	0.28
	SEM	0.33	0.39	0.18
LAB	1 day of fermentation	6.83B	7.09C	7.23B	0.24
	7 days of fermentation	7.51bA	8.72aA	7.65bAB	0.59
	7 days of ripening	6.42bC	7.81aB	7.96aA	0.10
	14 days of ripening	6.71aBC	6.47bD	5.92cC	0.12
	SEM	0.22	0.34	0.40

¹⁾Treatments are different strain of Pediococcus spp. used in the present study: COS, commercial starter culture; PE1, P. acidiliactici; PE2, P. pentosaceus, Starterkulturen Almi Rohschinken, used as control (n=3).

^a–cMeans in a row with different superscripts are significantly different (p<0.05).

^A–DMeans in a column with different superscripts are significantly different (p<0.05).

TPC, total plate count; LAB, lactic acid bacteria.