Inulin extraction from pharmaceutical perennial chicory plant and evaluating its prebiotic effects on the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that target certain components within the microbiota of the human large intestine. Efficient prebiotics need to have a specific fermentation therein and thereby have the ability to alter the faecal microflora composition towards a more ‘beneficial’ community structure. The aim of this research was to evaluate prebiotic effects of inulin from pharmaceutical perennial chicory plant.Growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Escherichia coli as probiotic and pathogenic bacteria were evaluated in the presence of 0, 1, 1.5 or 2% inulin compared to the commercial inulin, glucose and fructose. Results from the spectrophotometric analysis showed that 2% of inulin was more successful in enhancing cellular density of probiotic bacteria and against 2% of glucose and fructose was successful in enhancing cellular density of E.coli. In the review of growth and survival of bacterial cells, the number of viable bacteria L.rhamnosus, the 1.5%, 1010 CFU ml-1 were reported in which an increase of almost 0.7 Log live cells was observed relative to levels that the greatest increase in the level.