Col le ge of Agri cul tu re and Food Tec hno logy, De part ment of Food Sci en ce and Tec hno logy Ći ri la i Me to di ja 1, Pro ku plje 18400, Ser bia 2 Uni ver sity of Kra gu je vac, Fa culty of Sci en ce, De part ment of Bi o logy and Eco logy Ra do ja Do ma no vi ća 12, Kra gu je vac 34000, Ser bia 3 Uni ver sity of No vi Sad, Fa culty of Tec hno logy, De part ment of Food Pre ser va tion En gi ne e ring Bu le var ca ra La za ra 1, No vi Sad 21000, Ser bia EF FECT OF WA TER AC TI VITY ON THE RA DIAL GROWTH OF FUN GI ISO LA TED FROM DRY-CU RED SHE EP HAM, IN VI TRO (SERBIA) AB STRACT: In the We stern Bal kans, tra di ti o nal dry-cu red she ep ham cal led Pa str ma or Ste lja is pro du ced. Dry-cu red she ep ham from Sje ni ca is pro du ced in a very com plex man ner, and a pre re qu i si te for its pro duc tion is the sa ni tary sa fety of raw ma te ri als in ac cordan ce with ve te ri nary and sa ni tary re gu la ti ons. Iso la tion and pre li mi nary iden ti fi ca tion of fun gi from she ep ham we re car ried out in this study, as well as in vi tro te sting of the ef fects of wa ter ac ti vity (a w) on the growth of iso la ted fun gi. Fun gi we re iso la ted from 9 sam ples of dry-cu red she ep me at ta ken from three ho u se holds in the area of Sje ni ca in two pro duc ti ve years (2015 and 2016). Spe ci es of ge nus Pe ni cil li um we re iso la ted as do mi nant in all the in ve sti ga ted sam ples. Wa ter ac ti vity was te sted on MY50GF agar from the se ri es of malt ex tract yeast ex tract glu co se fruc to se agar. Wa ter ac ti vity was set to va lu es of 0.87, 0.89, and 0.97. The re sults of the re se arch sho wed that the growth of fun gal co lo ni es is un der the di rect in flu en ce of wa ter ac ti vity. Fun gi grew fa stest at wa ter ac ti vity of 0.97, and the hig hest growth of all te sted spe ci es was re cor ded af ter 3 (A. ni ger), 7 (P. pa tu lum), and 10 days (A. ni du lans).