Is there any laboratory test that I can use to identify if two or more microorganisms will be compatible as a mixed culture for fermentation purposes?
Dear Mr. Nicholas:
It is a very interesting question, though I have NOT worked with such system, but planning start mixed culture fermentation. In my opinion you should do the following: 1) Optimum growth pH of both the organism 2) Preferred carbon source for growth 3) Prepare growth curve for both the microbes 4) Check for the presence of anti-microbial compound produced (if any) by one of the organisms or by both the organisms. So, based on the above results, you may decide the compatibility of these two organisms.
compatibility of two microorganisms in a mixed culture can also be justified by streaking both of them over same plate of favorable growth media. you just have to streak both the cultures making plus or cross sign with the help of inoculating loop containing your cultures over to the same plate so that both the cultures interact at single point. if first culture is not inhibiting the growth of second culture at meeting point then it can be interpreted that both microorganisms are compatible. you can perform this experiment for more than two cultures also in a single plate. Hope this is going to help you.
Nicholas Alifa I did such work long ago for Xanthomonas and Pectobacterium in liquid medium. If your bacteria can be distinguished by colony color/morphology, you can just use standart serial dilution method during cultivation (3-4 points far enough) or measure total density of suspension in time and bacteria proportion on agar plates for each time point. In my case, the result was quite interesting.
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