(Isolation and Morphological Identification of Microbiota of Wheat Bran collected from different locations at Sohag Governorate)

The aim of the present research is to study the microbial community associated with 20 wheat bran samples collected during the period between August 2022 to June 2023 in Sohag governorate, Upper Egypt. A total number of 49 species in addition to 3 species-varieties belonging to 15 genera of microbiota, which represented in 38 fungal species and 3 species-varieties appertaining to 9 fungal genera, 10 species of yeast belonging to 5 genera and 1 species of Streptomyces appertaining to Actinobacteria were isolated and identified. The most common and prevalent genus was Aspergillus (20 spp. and 3 varieties) followed by Penicillium (6 spp.), Talaromyces (3 spp.) and Saccharomyces (3 spp.) with 100%, 100%, 75% and 60% frequencies of occurrence, respectively. Four fungal genera appeared in moderate frequencies of occurrence namely, Alternaria (50% of samples & 2 spp.), Absidia (40% of samples & 2 spp.), Acremonium (40% of samples & 2 spp.) and Mucor (30% of samples & 1 spp.) with 2.15%, 1.30%, 0.90% and 1.92% of total count, respectively. The associated microbiota in individual sample ranged between 0.43 × 104 – 5.3 × 104 CFU/g. Moisture content of the of the studied samples ranged between 12.06 ±0.06 - 15.66 ±0.09 with mean 14.19 ±0.18. Chemical analyses of samples revealed the overall mean of crude fat was 5.86 ±0.04, crude protein was 13.95 ±0.11, crude fiber was 12.71 ±0.08, ash was 4.05 ±0.04 and total carbohydrates mean was 49.22 ±0.26. This is the first report of microbes associated with wheat bran samples in Egypt.