Microbial Enumeration and Analysis of Antioxidant Activity of Starter Cultures Used for Rice Beer Preparation Unique to Some Ethnic Communities of Assam, India

Consumption and use of traditional rice beers in socio-cultural and religious activities amongst different ethnic communities of Assam and other states of north-east India are known for generations. Apart from socio-cultural and religious relevance, traditional rice beers are believed to have significant nutritive and health benefits. The rice beers of Deori, Mising and Ahom communities are known as Sujen, Apong and Xaj respectively while the local names of the starter cultures are called Sujen fero, Apop and Xaj pitha respectively. The microflora present in dried starter tablets convert starchy materials to fermentable sugars and subsequently to alcohol and organic acids. The antioxidant activity of rice beers may be derived from the different plant ingredients used for preparation of starter cultures. Analysis of microbial population and antioxidant activity of starter cultures are essential as quality of rice beer is dependent largely on the raw materials used. A comparative study on the microbial population and antioxidant activity of the starter cultures used for rice beer preparation of three ethnic communities of Assam, viz. Deori, Mising and Ahom communities was done. In YEPDA medium, yeast counts (log CFU g-1) for starter culture samples (in 10-3 dilution) are found to be in the range of 6.5-6.6. Radical Scavenging Effects of Sujen fero and Xaj pitha are high,i.e., 80.63% and 87.69% as compared to Apop(55.47%). The total phenolic content of Apop was found to be 31.94 and that of Sujen fero and Xaj pitha are 17.96 and17.80 respectively. The starter culture samples displayed positive antioxidant activity making it healthy for consumption