The effects of different protectants and concentrations on survival of the two strains of L. plantarum and moisture content after spray drying are presented in Table 2.
A17 microcapsules prepared with WPI at a solid content of 10% (w/w) resulted in a survival rate of 69.0%; whereas lactose afforded the least protection with only 25.8% cell survival. Adding a small amount of WPI (0.6%) to the lactose
solution (9.4%) while maintaining the same solid content resulted in a survival of 37.7% during spray drying, representing
a marked enhancement compared to using lactose alone.
Interestingly, when the same solid content of WPI (10%) was used to encapsulate L. plantarum B21, there was a significant increase in survival of up to 88.7% as compared to A17 at the same solid concentration.
Although spray dried WPI microcapsules for both strains had significantly higher moisture contents (p < 0.05) compared
to those involving lactose and the mixture of Lac:WPI, the resultant moisture content was effective in providing storage
stability.