Enhancement of short chain fatty acid formation by pure cultures of probiotics on rice fibre

Summary The formation of SCFA and the digestion of rice fibre using the following probiotics ( Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium breve ) was compared using total dietary fibre (TDF), insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) and soluble dietary fibre (SDF) from two varieties (milling grades) of rice. The milling grade of the rice had no significant effect ( P < 0.05) on the SCFA formation and the digestion after 6, 24 and 48 h fermentation. SCFA formation from the fermentation of the fibre fractions of both rice varieties, followed the pattern of TDF > SDF > IDF for all the probiotics tested and major difference between the species was the time to form the SCFA. The pattern of SCFA formation from both rice fibre fractions was acetate > propionate > butyrate for all the organisms with no significant difference between the micro‐organisms ( P < 0.05) although the ratio of acetate:propionate:butyrate was lower for Bifidobacterium spp. Lactobacillus spp. digested 60–80% of fibre whereas Bifidobaceria digested 75–85% of the rice fibre fractions from both rice samples. There was no significant difference in the ability of the micro‐organisms tested to utilise the different varieties of rice ( P > 0.05).