## 3 Results and Discussion
### Determination of the Counts of Selected Bacterial Groups by the Culture-Dependent Method  
The abundance of the selected bacterial groups was determined by the traditional culture-dependent method. The applied culture media are presented in Table 3. The microbiological quality of cheese depends on climatic conditions, cow health, cow nutrition, lactation period, and the type and number of starters. Despite the standardization of raw materials and the automation of cheese production, even the same types of cheese sampled from various vats can differ in microbiological quality. The addition of a starter culture was responsible for the high counts of _Lactococcus_, _Leuconostoc_, and _Propionibacterium_. The statistical analysis revealed that _Lactococcus_ counts were significantly influenced by the production season (\(p\leq 0.05\)), and the average _Lactococcus_ counts in autumn cheeses were determined at log 6.55 cfu/g and were lower than in spring cheeses (log 7.16 cfu/g). Cheeses produced with _Lactococcus_ starter cultures were characterized by high _Lactococcus_ counts. In turn, high _Lactococcus_ counts in mature cheeses were attributed to the availability of suitable carbon and nitrogen energy sources, including bacterial metabolites (low-molecular-weight peptides, free amino acids, citrate, RNA (ribose), and DNA (deoxyribose) produced during starter lactic acid bacteria (SLAB) \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Composition [\%]**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Season**} \\ \cline{2-3}  & **Autumn** & **Spring** \\ \hline water & 42.50 \(\pm\) 0.87 & 42.20 \(\pm\) 0.77 \\ fat & 27.51 \(\pm\) 0.38 & 27.19 \(\pm\) 1.26 \\ sodium chloride & 1.49 \(\pm\) 0.07 & 1.51 \(\pm\) 0.06 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* The results are expressed as means \(\pm\) standard deviation; \(n=3\). The analyses were conducted after 52 days of cheese ripening.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Chemical composition of Edam cheeses *. lysis. Similar results have been reported by other authors [29; 30; 31]. Season had no significant effect on _Leuconostoc_ and _Propionibacterium_ counts, which were determined at 4.43 and 5.75 cfu/g on average, respectively (Table 3). Interestingly, _Lactobacillus_ counts were around 11% (\(p>0.05\)) higher in the spring cheese than in the autumn cheese samples. Due to seasonal changes in the microbiological quality of the raw material, some diaries add larger amounts of starter cultures to cheese vats to accelerate ripening and obtain cheeses with desirable sensory attributes. The presence of higher _Lactococcus_ and _Propionibacterium_ counts in the spring cheeses seems to confirm the above observation. During ripening, starter cultures undergo autolysis, which leads to the release of cell wall elements and nucleic acids. These compounds are used by bacteria, including _Lactobacillus_ strains, as a source of carbon or nitrogen. Similarly to _Lactobacillus_, _Enterococcus_ strains are also classified as non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB). The high _Enterococcus_ counts in mature cheeses could be explained by the fact that _Enterococcus_ spp. are highly resistant to pasteurization temperature and that milk fat exerts protective effects [32]. The counts of _Enterococcus_ and Enterobacteriaceaeae were significantly influenced by season. The average counts of _Enterococcus_ and _Enterobacteriaceae_ reached 3.63 and 2.50 cfu/g, respectively, and were higher (log 0.50 and log 0.86 cfu/g, respectively) in cheeses produced in spring. _Enterococcus_ counts were similar to those reported by other authors in Swiss-type cheese (2-3 cfu/g) [29], but they were significantly lower than in Spanish cheese (6-8 log cfu/g) [33]. The low Enterobacteriaceaeae counts could probably be attributed to the fermenting activity of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and the synthesis of antibacterial compounds (bacteriocins, organic acids, ethanol, and H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\)) that reduce microbial counts by increasing the permeability of bacterial cell walls [29; 30].