Analysis of Microbial Diversity and Flavor Quality of Chopped Pepper Radish in Post-ripening

Comprehending the changes in the microbial community and volatile substances throughout the post-ripening stage of chopped pepper radish is particularly important for revealing the formation of the distinctive flavor of fermented peppers. The microbial communities and volatile compounds of chopped pepper radish in the post-ripening stage were examined in this work using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and headspace solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS), as well as their underlying correlations. Results indicated that 11 dominant fungal genera and 21 dominant bacterial genera (average relative abundance more than 1%) were filtered out. Sensory analysis showed that the flavor and taste of chopped pepper radish were significantly improved after post-ripening (P<0.05). A total of 74 volatile flavor compounds, mainly alcohols and esters, were detected in chopped pepper radish. According to correlation analysis, 29 volatile flavor substances and 11 core microbial genera (|cor|>0.7 and P<0.05) were significantly related to one another. Pediococcus, Lactococcus, and Penicillium were significantly related to 11, 6, and 5 flavor substances, respectively. The findings in this study demonstrated how metabolites changed as chopped pepper radish underwent the post-ripening process and offered evidence to support efforts to raise the quality of chopped pepper radish.