Abstract:
Probiotics, prebiotics, and symbiotics have been studied extensively in recent years as potential mediators of the maintenance of healthy intestinal flora. The current study investigates the prebiotic effect of gum Arabic on some probiotic bacteria. For this purpose, the growth of three strains (Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain lmn4 (MS11), and Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain 1-15 (MR4)) in the basal fermentation medium (MRS broth without glucose) at different concentrations (0.5% and 1%) of gum Arabic and glucose (control) was evaluated by optical density measurement. The findings indicate that Lactobacillus rhamnosus ferments gum Arabic better than Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains in both 0.5% and 1% concentrations. Moreover, increasing the concentration of gum Arabic had no significant effect on the growth of most of the tested strains. The effect of adding different concentrations of gum Arabic (0.5% and 1%) on the development of probiotic strains in the milk was monitored by pH measurement. The results showed that increasing the concentration of gum Arabic reduces the pH of the prebiotic milk compared to skimmed milk but not significantly. It can be concluded that gum Arabic has been found to promote the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a probiotic used in infants.

Keywords: Gum Arabic, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Prebiotic, Probiotic.