Probiotic and technological properties of exopolysaccharide producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from cereal-based nigerian fermented food products

The present study aims to evaluate the probiotic potential and technological properties of exopoly-saccharide (EPS) producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from Nigerian fermented cereal-basedfoods. Sixty-three autochthonous LAB isolated from cereal-based fermented foods were screened forEPS production,five isolates produced an appreciable amount of EPS on sucrose modified media andwere identified by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene asL.plantarumYO175,L.plantarumOF101,P. pentosaceusOF31,W. confusaOF126 andW. confusaWS90. Thesefive isolates were assessed for their probiotic andtechnological properties viz., tolerance to low pH, bile salt resistance, bile salt hydrolysis, tolerance tosimulated gastric transit, cell surface hydrophobicity, antimicrobial, amylolytic and acidifying activity.The LAB isolates showed good survival at pH 2.0 and 2.5 and were resistant to 0.3% bile salt after 4 h. Allthe isolates tolerate gastric juice condition, with no reduction in viability exceptW. confusaWS90 thatlost viability over 180 min incubation time.L. plantarumOF101 showed the highest hydrophobicityvalues for n-hexadecane and xylene (43.6%, 46.2%). They all showed different antimicrobial activitiesagainstfive food-borne pathogens.P. pentosaceusOF31 possessed the highest ability to inhibit pathogensand also demonstrated better and rapid acid production capability. Albeit the properties tested arestrain-dependent,L. plantarumandP. pentosaceusstrains were found to possess interesting functionaland probiotic characteristics to a greater extent compared toW. cibariastrains. The safety investigationsindicate their suitability as good candidates for cereal-based probiotic products/starter culture for theimprovement of traditional cereal fermentation process and also the development of functional cerealfood