Confirmation of the Identity of Lactobacillus Species using Carbohydrate Fermentation Test (API 50 CHL) Identification System

Background and Objective: The word ʻprobioticʼ in greek, means ʻfor lifeʼ.Probiotics are defined as live microbial feed supplement which have several health benefits.The objective of this study was to screen and identify 20 bacterial strains provided by School of Industrial Technology, USM, Malaysia.Materials and Methods: Twenty bacteria culture was screened using morphological and biochemical studies.From the 20 bacteria cultures, 9 of those exhibited viable count of above 9.0 log 10 CFU mLG 1 are selected for acid and bile tolerance tests.From 9 bacteria, five bacteria culture were able to tolerate acid and bile which exhibited viable counts of more than 9.0 log 10 .Results: All the 20 bacteria were confirmed as probiotics Lactobacillus using morphological and biochemical studies.The identity of the five lactobacilli, FTDC 0582, FTDC 0785, FTDC 2916, FTDC 4462 and FTDC 4793 were confirmed to be L. brevis, L. plantarum, L. plantarum, L. casei and L. plantarum, respectively.Conclusion: It can be concluded that, a carbon utilization microplate assay system developed by API CHL 50 has the potential to simplify the identification scheme of probiotic bacteria to the genus level.