In this study, ARDRA facilitated the screening and identification of the large number (762) of LAB isolates obtained from plaa-som fermentations. Based on this screening, the isolates were categorized into six distinct groups that sequenced into six species (Table 1). Other researchers have also reported the merits of ARDRA for rapid grouping and identification of isolates of LAB (Sato et al., 2000; Vaneechoutte and Heyndrickx, 2001; Chen et al., 2005, 2006).