Isolation and Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria From Milk and Their Effects on the Pathogenic Bacteria

Probiotics are “live microbial cells” that are beneficial for human and animal health. Lactobacilli are such a diverse group of bacteria with similar metabolic and physiological characteristics, and constitute important and beneficial gut microflora. During carbohydrate fermentation, lactobacilli produce lactic acid as an end product in metabolism. Hence, lactobacilli have high significance to be used as probiotics in the food industry, because of their acidifying properties. Also, lactobacilli are considered “safe”, owing to their ubiquitous presence in the food. Many researchers provided evidence for the presence of lactobacilli in milk sources. Thus, the present study aimed to isolate and characterize different lactobacilli strains from milk sources and analyze their “probiotic potential”.

Forty-one lactobacilli isolates were obtained from raw cow milk. Then, the strains were characterized by morphological identification and biochemical tests. Besides, probiotic potentials were evaluated with the bile tolerance test, antibiotic susceptibility test, and determining suitable pH for the optimal growth of lactobacilli. The lactobacilli isolates were also analyzed for their probiotic characteristics and the release of antimicrobial substances. Their antimicrobial activities against pathogenic strains were assessed by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration, with the help of agar diffusion methods.

From 50 milk samples, 41 lactobacilli isolates were obtained, out of which five lactobacilli strains were identified as Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus lactis. Moreover, 35 isolates showed an inhibitory effect. These strains were able to survive and grow in 0.5% to 2.5% bile salt concentrations. Lactic acid bacteria were susceptible to antibiotics, and 35 isolates obtained from raw milk showed an inhibitory effect against pathogenic bacteria. The observed minimum inhibitory concentration ranged from 50 to 100 µL and varied between the different pathogens.

Out of 41 Lactobacillus isolates obtained from cow milk samples, 35 were identified with probiotic characteristics. Hence, this study highlighted the novel probiotic bacteria and validated the antimicrobial properties of the Lactobacillus spp against pathogenic bacteria.