ISOLATION AND TESTING THE CHOLESTEROL REDUCTION ABILITY (in-vitro) OF Lactococcus lactis FROM FERMENTED SMOOTH PIGWEED (Amaranthus hybridus) LEAVES

Probiotics are live microbial feed supplements, which positively affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance. Studies have shown probiotic activities of Lactococci isolated from dairy foods, which include the ability to inhibit the growth of other bacteria and the reduction of cholesterol. However, there is limited documented work on the probiotic activity in Lactococci from plant materials. The present study isolated and tested cholesterol reduction ability (in-vitro) of Lactococcus lactis isolates from fermented smooth pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus) leaves. The specific objectives were to: isolate L. lactis bacteria from A. hybridus leaves harvested at maturity (30 days), determine cholesterol reduction ability of L. lactis isolated from the A. hybridus leaves and establish whether there were any differences in the amounts of cholesterol reduced from the growth media by L. lactis and Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 43121 (the positive control). It further aimed at determining whether fermentation affected protein, mineral and moisture content in amaranthus leaves and the acceptability of the fermented leaves as compared to fres