The main task of Carbohydrate fermentation test is to investigate the
ability of bacteria to ferment different types of carbohydrate. Phenol
red broth base medium was used as an indicator to differentiate the
bacteria according to their patterns of carbohydrate utilization.
Table 1 show that the isolated bacteria could ferment maltose,
lactose, sucrose and glucose, but not sorbitol and arabinose. No
bubble was detected from the glucose inserted with Durham tube
indicating that no gas production could be associated with the
growth. Thus, the results obtained coincided with L. acidophilus
strain characteristic [14, 27].