Lactobacillus plantarum KUS and Pediococcus pentosaceus KUR isolated from rice milk
and mixed culture of L. plantarum KUS and P. pentosaceus KUR were reported as the best
starter of rice milk yoghurt (Boongird and Leelawatcharamas, 2006). Twenty five strains of
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from South Indian traditional fermented foods
‘Kallappam’ batter, ‘Koozh’ and ‘MorKuzhambu’ and further 6 strains including
Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum. Lactobacillus plantarum AS1
possesses antimicrobial activity (Kumar et al., 2010) in the probiotic characterization.
Therefore, Identification of these isolated species of Lactobacillus by molecular
identification methods and probiotic characterization of them will further confirm the
application as starter culture in the food industry.
CONCLUSIONS
Among 122 microorganism studied, the grape cluster like coccus (48), diplococcus (30) and
bacillus (30) were observed as gram-positive and catalase negative. Among the isolated
bacilli, seven were identified as Lactobacillus spp using API kits and showed that
potentially probiotic Lactobacillus spp were present in fermented rice. Molecular
identification and further probiotic characterization are required for confirmation.