| Summary: | Pit-wall mud (PWM) fosters bacterial communities involved in Baijiu production. PWM varies depending on pit age and height. In this study, we explored the bacterial communities in PWM and factors driving their evolution. The abundance and diversity of bacterial communities were low in new PWM (NPWM). In old PWM (OPWM), similar but diverse bacterial communities were observed at different heights. <i>Lactobacillus</i> was the predominant genus in NPWM, and <i>Caproiciproducens</i>, <i>Aminobacterium</i>, <i>Hydrogenispora</i>, <i>Lactobacillus</i>, <i>Petrimonas</i>, <i>Syntrophomonas</i>, and <i>Sedimentibacter</i> were the dominant genera in OPWM. A decrease was noted in the abundance of <i>Lactobacillus</i>, which indicated evolution. Among all the physicochemical properties, pH had the highest degree of interpretation with an R<sup>2</sup> value of 0.965. pH also exerted the strongest effect on bacterial communities. The path coefficients of pH on bacterial community diversity and abundance were 0.886 and 0.810, respectively. <i>Caproiciproducens</i> and <i>Clostridium sensu stricto 12</i> metabolized lactic acid, inhibiting the growth of <i>Lactobacillus</i> at a suitable pH, which led to the maturation of PWM. Our findings enrich the literature on the evolution of bacterial communities in PM and the maturation of PM.
|
|---|