Characterizing the interaction relationship of the microbial communities between Zaopei and pit mud disturbing by Daqu.

The differences of interaction between interphase microbial communities were evaluated caused by two kinds of Daqu, including conventional Daqu (CDQ) and fortified Daqu (FDQ). The community diversity, functional genera and metabolites in pit mud (PM) and Zaopei (ZP) were investigated by polyphasic detecting approaches. FDQ evolved the core microbial community fitting Baijiu brewing faster than CDQ. Compared with CPM, the abundance of Aspergillus, Hyphopichia, and Penicillium in FPM were 1.54, 14.75, and 1.68 times, while that of Lactobacillus, Bacillus, Methanobrevibacter, and Methanosaeta were 2.13, 1.85, 6.35, and 3.36 times, respectively. Furthermore, the content of key flavor components was increased in ZP using FDQ. These results suggested the interaction between interphase microbial communities in various phases of Baijiu fermentation niches was significant influenced by Daqu. It can not only enhance the key volatiles in ZP but also evolve the community to fit Baijiu fermentation by introducing functional genera to Daqu. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-021-00975-z. © The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology 2021.