Diversity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from kpt-kpt a ferment of traditional beer tchoukoutou produced in Benin

The counts and identification of lactic acid bacteria isolated from the ferment “kpètè-kpètè” of the traditional beer (tchoukoutou) collected from nine large producing cities of Benin were carried out. Out of 209 strains isolated, 135 strains were purified, identified and were member of four different types based on their morphological traits, biochemical tests, API 50CH gallery and genotypic characterization (PCR technique). They are of the genus Lactobacillus (72), Enterococcus (38), Leuconostoc (11), Streptococcus (7) and Pediococcus (7). But the study of the biochemical and physiological characteristics identified 128 strains of the following species: Lactobacillus fermentum (47), Lactobacillus divergens (17), Lactobacillus bifermentum (2), Lactobacillus fructuvoans (2), Lactobacillus casei (2), Lactobacillus acidophilus (2), Enterococcus faecium (33), Enterococcus faecalis (5), Streptococcus thermophilus (7) and Leuconostoc mesenteroides (11). The genus Lactobacillus (56.25%) was dominant followed by the genus Enterococcus (25.78%).