20.500.12556/RUL-186316 Cereal matrix shapes acidification and volatile compound formation, but not culturable bacterial counts, in boza, a fermented cereal beverage Boza is a fermented cereal beverage whose fermentation phenotype depends on cereal composition and starter microbiota. We evaluated a controlled laboratory model comprising three cereal bases and three inoculum sources. Maize flour, millet flour, and purified maize starch were each inoculated with sour cream, a defined mesophilic dairy starter, or a boza-derived inoculum and fermented for 48 h at 22 °C. We measured pH, titratable acidity, culturable aerobic bacterial counts, and 14 targeted volatile compounds. Flour formulations acidified markedly, with pH decreases of up to 3.5 units and final titratable acidity of up to 24.6 mmol NaOH/kg; starch formulations decreased by less than 1 pH unit and remained below 2 mmol NaOH/kg. Maize flour produced the largest pH decrease, whereas millet flour, particularly with sour-cream inoculum, reached the highest titratable acidity and showed the broadest increases in acetoin, two 2,3-butanediol isomers, 1-hexanol, and 1-octen-3-ol. Endpoint aerobic bacterial counts did not differ significantly among formulations despite marked differences in acidification. Thus, flour-based and starch-based formulations exhibited distinct fermentation phenotypes, with matrix-dependent inoculum effects. Across the tested formulations, cereal matrix was strongly associated with the measured phenotype, whereas endpoint culturable aerobic counts alone did not reflect acidification or volatile remodeling. boza lactic acid bacteria acidification kinetics volatile compounds boza mlečnokislinske bakterije kinetika zakisanja hlapne spojine true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-08-30 22:36:10 2026-09-07 12:23:06 2026-09-08 04:19:33 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 10 str. art. 104544 Vol. 131 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 664 0733-5210 10.1016/j.jcs.2026.104544 290053635 1-s2.0-S0733521026001827-main.pdf 1-s2.0-S0733521026001827-main.pdf 1 6DE92CCC632AF8FA333AC8EE6239B6B7 f3e5814a57ddadb827b46c71227efa276ebd8ec00d0f6ba4187991189583d8f6 a3921535-aaa6-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=246330 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0733521026001827 0 8fd87330-aaa6-11f1-8bc5-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=246329 Medicinska fakulteta Biotehniška fakulteta Fakulteta za farmacijo 0 0 0