This study demonstrated that the plant-derived lactococci have an
efficient ability to form high levels of a broad range of important volatile
compounds associated with improved flavour in dairy products. The
diverse abilities of the plant isolates to metabolise different substrates
in milk and their ability to produce distinct flavours suggest their potential
as starter adjuncts for the production of dairy products with more
varied flavour characteristics and also their potential to be used as components
in starter blends to create novel flavoured products or enhance
the development and reduce the time taken to develop the flavour of
dairy products. Nevertheless, much more analysis of the properties of
these strains would be necessary before addition of these strains to
starter blends was possible The study highlights the potential of volatile
compounds based screening for the identification of plant lactococci isolates,
which produce a wide range of volatile compounds associated
with flavour, and suggests that a wider screening of strains using
these techniques could be very fruitful for the isolation of novel cultures
for the dairy industry.