Abstract: To prepare the compound functional starter of low-salt curing cowpea, the growth compatibilitys among Lactobacillus plantarum SD-7 strain, Lactobacillus plantarum FM-LP-9 and Lactobacillus alimentarius FM-MM4 were analyzed. At the same time, the effects of co-culture on function of the three strains and the effects of compound inoculated fermented on the quality of cowpea were also studied. The results showed that the three strains of compound functional starter had excellent biocompatibility, and the cell density was increased by 0.49~6.32 times. In the co-culture system, when the inoculation ratio of the three strains was 1:1:1, the functional characteristics of the three strains were the best. The nitrite degradation rate of the composite system was 96.15%, which was 8.59% higher than that of Lactobacillus plantarum SD-7 alone, the DPPH radical scavenging rate, the ABTS radical scavenging rate and the reducing power of the composite system were 51.23%, 64.52%, and 175.23 μmol·L⁻¹(L-cysteine), which were increased by 15.82%, 14.58% and 20.66%, respectively. The bacteriostatic ability of the composite system was also significantly higher than that of Lactobacillus alimentarius FM-MM4 alone (P<0.05). Compared with natural fermentation, inoculation fermentation was beneficial to improve the quality of low-salt curing cowpea.