Dried Raw Camel Milk Spot (“DRCMS”) as a Simple and Efficient Microsampling Method from Hot and Remote Regions for Mesophilic Aerobe Count and Lactofermentation Microbiota Activity Detection

The validity of the “DRCMS” was tested as a new method for the collection and procurement of raw camel milk samples from the field. One hundred microliters of whole fresh raw camel milk were spotted on sterile Whatman filter paper (SWFP) and then stored at 24 °C and 37 °C from 0 to 3 days. The log₁₀ CFU/mL count of mesophilic aerobe (MA) populations and the fermenting ability were compared from freshly collected milk and corresponding samples that were spotted on SWFP. Considering the results using parametric unpaired t-test, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between means log₁₀ CFU/mL from fresh raw camel kept at 6 °C according to the conventional method and those from DRCMS as a new storage method, for 85% of the samples. Besides, the lactofermentation test revealed that the biological activities of the microbiota in each fresh raw camel milk and its corresponding DRCMS were the same, showing effective preservation of microbiota composition on SWFP. In addition, DRCMS was a useful tool as solid-phase extraction (SPE) technology to extract camel milk microbiota DNA and conduct bacterial 16S rRNA gene PCR reaction.