Physicochemical characteristics and bacterial communities of meigan cai and zao cai, two home-made fermented vegetables

Meigan cai and zao cai are two important traditional fermented vegetables in Fujian Province, China. However, there is little information on the bacterial community of these two fermented vegetables. In the present work, we evaluated and compared the physicochemical characteristics and bacterial communities of meigan cai and zao cai. Results revealed that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the main dominant phyla, and Lactobacillus and Serratia were the main genera. Principal coordinate and significance analysis showed that the bacterial communities were similar between meigan cai and zao cai. Except for glucose, there was no significant difference in the physicochemical characteristics between meigan cai and zao cai. Our study provided information on the bacterial communities of meigan cai and zao cai, and a guide for the production of these two fermented vegetables.