## 3 Results and Discussion
### Freeze-Dried Powders
In the FTIR figures, fingerprint regions (600-1500 cm\({}^{-1}\)) of functional groups can be detected. For beetroot powders at the 1314, 1350-methylene C-H bend, between 1450 and 1650 cm\({}^{-1}\), the presence of nitrogen was seen. Similar results and conclusions have been observed for beetroot juices and beetroot samples [56; 57; 58]. The region linked to \(\beta\)-carotene is at wavenumbers from 1550 to 1600 cm\({}^{-1}\), which is related to stretching vibrations of the C=C bonds and the region seen at 960 cm\({}^{-1}\) (Figure 3b). Comparable results were observed by [PERSON] et al. [59] for dried pumpkin species and also for dried red pepper by [PERSON] et al. [60]. In the presented research two methods were used for the identification of betalain and its content. First, a spectrophotometric method was used in juices and in freeze-dried powders to test the total betaxanthin and betacyanin content in the samples. A second method, HPLC analysis, was used to obtain the betalain profile in freeze-dried samples, as well as its concentration too. The results of the HPLC method are presented in Table 4, whereas the summary of these two methods is compared in Table 5. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Sample**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Betaanthin**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Betacyanin**} \\  & **(mg/100 g dm)** & & & & & **(mg/100 g dm)** & & & \\  & **Vulgaxanthin 1** & **A** & **Betanin** & **B** & **Isoperimation** & **Betanin** & **C** & **Nebetanin** \\ \hline B\_IJ\_LF & 1.22 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 60.22 \(\pm\) 1.27\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.29 \(\pm\) 0.04\({}^{\circ}\) & 577 \(\pm\) 0.25\({}^{\circ}\) & 6.38 \(\pm\) 0.38\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) \\ B\_IJ\_LB & 1.70 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.21 \(\pm\) 0.05\({}^{\circ}\) & 72.83 \(\pm\) 0.07\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.17 \(\pm\) 0.02\({}^{\circ}\) & 7.93 \(\pm\) 0.32\({}^{\circ}\) & 6.80 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.43 \(\pm\) 0.04\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) \\ B\_IJ\_SF & 2.19 \(\pm\) 0.00\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 41.96 \(\pm\) 0.69\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.51 \(\pm\) 0.03\({}^{\circ}\) & 3.67 \(\pm\) 0.32\({}^{\circ}\) & 16.35 \(\pm\) 0.90\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.88 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) \\ B\_PI\_SF\_LF & 0.15 \(\pm\) 0.00\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.85 \(\pm\) 0.06\({}^{\circ}\) & 43.86 \(\pm\) 1.87\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.80 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 14.69 \(\pm\) 0.40\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.38 \(\pm\) 0.07\({}^{\circ}\) & \({}^{\circ}\) & 0.54 \(\pm\) 0.07\({}^{\circ}\) \\ B\_PI\_SF\_LB & 0.09 \(\pm\) 0.00\({}^{\circ}\) & 1.24 \(\pm\) 0.01\({}^{\circ}\) & 60.40 \(\pm\) 0.73\({}^{\circ}\) & 1.09 \(\pm\) 0.04\({}^{\circ}\) & 16.41 \(\pm\) 0.32\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 0.83 \(\pm\) 0.03\({}^{\circ}\) \\ B\_PI\_SF\_SF & 1.71 \(\pm\) 0.11\({}^{\circ}\) & 0 \({}^{\circ}\) & 36.90 \(\pm\) 0.01\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.54 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 7.08 \(\pm\) 0.11\({}^{\circ}\) & 4.15 \(\pm\) 0.08\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.73 \(\pm\) 0.04\({}^{\circ}\) & 0.60 \(\pm\) 0.04\({}^{\circ}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* B—beetroot; LF—_Limisactobacillus fermentum_ KKP 811; LB—_Levilactobacillus brereis_ KKP 804; SF—spontaneous fermentation; J—juice pressed before fermentation; PJ+S—juice pressed from fermented vegetable and mixed with post-fermentation solution; A—possible decarboxylated derivative of betanin, B, C—other betacyanin, a, b, c, d, e—different indexes for the columns mean statistically significant differences for given values at the level of \(p<0.05\).  
\end{table} 
Table 4: HPLC results. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Step 1**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Step 2**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Step 3**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Decomposition Temperature** [\({}^{\circ}\)C]} \\ \cline{2-10}  & **Temp. ** & **Mass** & **Temp. ** & **Mass** & **Temp.