Identification of pseudomonads from fresh and chill-stored chicken carcasses

Results of carbon source assimilation tests (17 carbon compounds) led to 88% of pseudomonads from cold-stored chicken carcasses being assigned to one of 17 groups. Of these groups, 13 had combinations of properties identical to, or with readily recognizable degrees of similarity to those of published species/biovars. Two of the four groups having carbon assimilation patterns dissimilar to any known species had cellular fatty acid composition corresponding to Pseudomonas fluorescens, and two to Pseudomonas lundensis or Pseudomonas fragi. The P. fluorescens biovars all had higher amounts of 16:1 cis 9 (21-37%) and 18:1 cis 11 (10-19%), than of 17:0 cyclo (1-17%) and 19:0 cyclo (0-1%). In contrast, for P. lundensis and P. fragi, the relative amounts of these unsaturated acids and cyclopropane acids were reversed. Both the carbon source assimilation tests and the cellular fatty acid composition led to the conclusion that none of the species were dominant, although the P. fluorescens biovars constituted about 50% of the isolated pseudomonads.