Influence of Partial Replacement of NaCl with KCl on Bacterial Diversity of Xuanwei Ham

In order to explore the bacterial community diversity and structure in Xuanwei ham with partial replacement of NaCl by KCl, the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria on and in Xuanwei ham with 0% (control), 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% NaCl replacement by KCl was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform, and the differences in the structure, composition and diversity of bacterial communities in the five ham samples were compared. The results showed that a total of 257777 sequences and 6153 operational taxonomic units (OTU) were obtained from the surface samples and 248102 sequences and 5704 OTU from the interior samples. Bacterial abundance in the ham differed with the level of KCl replacement, but the dominant bacterial phyla in the surface and interior samples were Proteobacteria and Firmicutes for all replacement groups. Partial substitution of NaCl by KCl increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in and on the ham, which reached maximum at substitution level of 40% and significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The bacterial community structure was highly similar among the replacement groups. The abundance and diversity of bacterial community on the ham were decreased, while those in the ham were not significantly changed by KCl substitution.