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The lactic acid bacteria isolated from pastirma, produced under controlled conditions using two different curing temperatures (4°C or 10°C) and two different curing agents (150 mg/kg sodium nitrite or 300 mg/kg potassium nitrate), were subjected to genotypic (16S rRNA sequecing) identification. According to the identification results, 68 of 87 isolates (78.16%) was identified as Pediococcus pentosaceus. This species was followed by P. acidilactici (14.94%), Lactobacillus sakei (4.60%) and L. plantarum (2.30%), respectively. P. pentosaceus was dominant species in all curing applications (4°C/nitrate or nitrite or 10°C/nitrate or nitrite). Another species determined in all groups was P. acidilactici. While L. plantarum was only isolated from samples produced with nitrate (4°C or 10°C), L. sakei was isolated from samples produced with nitrite (4°C or 10°C). The effect of the curing agent on the biodiversity of lactic acid bacteria in pastirma was more effective than the curing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]