Low fat Mozzarella cheese was made using exopolysaccharide-producing starter cultures consisting of single strains of Streptococcus thermophilus MR-1C and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus MR-1R with or without the addition of mesophilic exopolysaccharide-producing adjunct mixed culture consisting of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris. A control cheese was made using a non-exopolysaccharide-producing starter culture consisting of S. thermophilus TA061 and Lactobacillus helveticusLH100. Cheeses were analyzed for moisture, melt, fat, and protein. Cheeses made with the addition of the mesophilic exopolysaccharide-producing adjunct culture showed significant differences in moisture, but not in melting properties when compared to cheeses made without adjunct culture. Cheeses made with both the exopolysaccharide-producing starter and exopolysaccharide-producing adjunct cultures showed a 4% increase in moisture, but the use of the exopolysaccharide-producing starter cultures alone produced a 3% increase in moisture over the control cheese. Melt also increased in these cheeses as moisture increased. The same cultures were used to determine the effects on moisture when the cheesemaking procedure was scaled up from 10-kg vats to using 454-kg horizontal blade double-O vats, and hand stretching was replaced by an Alfa Laval cooker stretcher machine. Cheese made using the exopolysaccharide-producing cultures showed a 2% increase in moisture over cheese made using non-exopolysaccharide-producing cultures. All of the cheeses made in the double-0 vats showed a decrease in moisture compared to cheeses made in the 10-kg stainless steel vats . Cheeses with elevated moisture levels showed increased melt.

The direct effects of chemically- induced reduced transpiration on soil moisture were studied in a sub -watershed of the greater Logan River drainage. No statistically significant differences occurred among the total amounts of water transpired by the treated and control units. The seasonal low points of soil moisture, in September, showed no significant differences in final moisture retention for the two years studied, either for the control or the treated portions of the study site . The 1967 season showed a lag in soil moisture depletion compared to the 1966 season. Although a later spring in 1967 may have aided in the explanation of this lag, there was good reason to believe that the antitranspirant treatment incurred a significant delay in water use. There was evidence that more effective application of chemicals might have given more positive results.

This study investigated the role of exopolysaccharide (EPS) in cheese moisture retention. Analysis of low-fat Mozzarella cheese made with different combinations of EPS-producing (Streptococcus thermophilus MR-1C and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus MR-lR) and non-EPS-producing (S. thermophilus TA061 and L. helveticus LH100) starters showed significantly higher moisture levels in cheese made with S. thermophilus MR-1C. To determine if the S. thermophilus MR-1C EPS was responsible for increased moisture retention, gene replacement was used to inactivate the epsE gene in this bacterium. Low-fat Mozzarella cheese made with L. helveticus LH100 plus the EPS-negative mutant, S. thermophilus DM1O, had significantly lower moisture content than cheese made with LH100 and MR-1C, which confirmed that the MR-1C capsular EPS was responsible for the water-binding properties of this bacterium in cheese. Chemical analysis of the S. thermophilus MR-lC EPS indicated that it had a repeating unit composed of D-galactose, L-rhamnose, and L-fucose in a ratio of 5:2:1. Interestingly, carbohydrate utilization tests showed that DMlO had acquired the ability to ferment galactose.

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