2.1. Bacterial strains
The pure and mixed cultures used in this study are listed in Table 1 and Table 2. There are no commercial cultures available that are specifically designed for the fermentation of carrots or beets, so the most widely available cultures for plant fermentations were tested, which are silage inoculants. One strain of Lactobacillus plantarum was isolated from the Agmaster starter and used in conjunction with another commercial strain, Pediococcus acidilactici AFERM 772.