Studies On The Occurrence Of Bacillus Coagulans That Could Be Used As Probiotics From Locally Fermented Foods:- Udefi, Rapuluchukwu C

ABSTRACT

 The aim ofthis study is to studies on the occurrence of bacillus coagulans that could be used as probiotics from locally fermented foods. The locally fermented food products used in this study includes Cassava, Ugba and Ogi. Each sample was separately streaked on prepared MacConkey agar plates under aseptic condition. The streaked plates were incubated for 18 - 24 hours at 37°C. After incubation, the plates were observed for bacterial growth. Colonies that grew were further sub-cultured repeatedly to obtain pure isolates. The bacterial colonies were characterized on the basis of their cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics. The Biochemical ' and Cultural Characteristics ofIsolates revealed the organism to belong to the genus of Bacillus cogulans. The antibacterial activity of B. coagulans cell mass against the selected pathogens showed that Pseudomonas spp was mostly inhibited by the cell mass ofB. coagulans at 20pil and 15 pl (25mm and 14mm respectively). It was followed by Klebsiella spp (15mm) at 20 pl. The antibacterial activity of B. coagulans supernatant against the selected organisms showed that E.coli (12mm) and S.aureus (12mm) were mostly affected at 15 pl. There was not much inhibitory activity observed against the test organisms at 5 pl. Locally fermented foods like Ugba and ogi are cost effective and can be consumed because they contain the probiotics Bacillus coagulans thus recommended that locally fermented food products should be hygienically and microbiologically safe for human consumption.