Cultivable bacterial diversity and amylase production in three typical D aqus of C hinese spirits

Summary Both culture‐dependent method and molecular technique were firstly used to simultaneously investigate the cultivable bacterial diversity and amylase production in three typical D aqus of C hinese spirits. The results showed that both cultivable bacterial diversity and amylase production were obviously different. The species of nine bacteria from D eshan, nine from B aisha and six from W uling D aqus were identified. The total bacterial strains of 17, 15 and 14, and 9, 16 and 10 could produce α‐amylase and glucoamylase, respectively, from the D aqus, and the enzyme yields were different. B acillus licheniformis , B acillus subtilis and B acillus amyloliquefaciens not only were dominant bacteria in the D aqus, but also possessed high activities of α‐amylase and glucoamylase. By comparison, B acillus cereus and B acillus oleronius were found to be another predominant bacterial species and good producers of α‐amylase and glucoamylase in D eshan and W uling D aqus, respectively.