2.3. Purification of the bacterial isolates
Representative of each different bacterial colony types was randomly picked from the primary plates of each fermented sample and subcultured onto sterile plates by the streaking method. The isolated strains were subcultured by repeated streaking to obtain pure cultures. The bacterial isolates from the traditionally fermented samples of the cotton seeds (G. hirsutum), were kept in triplicates on PCA slants as working and stock cultures. Characterisation of the bacterial isolates: Taxonomic studies were carried out on the pure bacterial isolates from traditionally fermented samples of cotton seeds on the basis of their cultural, morphological, physiolological and biochemical characteristics.