3. Results
3.1. Cell survival in model solutions
The evolution of the cell concentration of L. plantarum during
storage in the model solutions, and the log difference between week 0
and week 6, [log10N0week−log10N6week] are presented in Table 3. In all
the solutions, the number of cells started to decrease slowly after the
first two weeks of storage, especially in the case of the solutions with
very low pH. The cell concentrations were significantly reduced
(Pb0.05) by week 5 and week 6, although in most cases they were still
higher than 107 CFU/mL. The lowest cell survival was observed for
solution 11, which had that the lowest pH value (pH 3). High
concentrations of citric acid seemed to support high cell survival, as
suggested by the results of solutions 3, 4, 7, 8, and 14 (Table 3).