Enhanced probiotic attributes of lactobacilli in honey supplemented media

The increased demand for Lactobacillus bacteria in industry and the developing probiotic sector prompts a quest for cost-effective prebiotics and fermentation medium that provide a high yield and quality of these bacteria.The mean doubling time of Lactobacilli identified the optimum concentration of honey and inulin as 0.5% and 5%, respectively.The effect of pH (2.5) on honey and inulin-supplemented lactic acid bacteria was observed to show an absorbance (620 nm) of 0.54 and 0.62, respectively, as compared to the control of 0.49 at 4 h.The prebioticsupplemented Lactobacillus strains were able to exhibit higher growth in presence of 0.4% bile salts, and 15% NaCl, and higher cell surface hydrophobicity as compared to Lactobacillus without supplementation of prebiotics.The effect of prebiotics on Lactobacillus strains in skimmed milk exhibited 2.31 times more growth, after 5 weeks of refrigerated storage.Kirby-Bauer assay confirmed the enhanced anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus activity of Lactobacillus strains in prebiotic-supplemented skimmed milk.The study concluded that honey supplemented in skimmed milk can serve as potential growth and anti-MRSA enhancer for Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus casei var.rhamnosus.