Phytase-Producing Potential and Other Functional Attributes of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolates for Prospective Probiotic Applications

Wide variations among multifaceted-health benefitting attributes of probiotics fueled investigations on targeting efficacious probiotics. In the current study, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from poultry gut, feces of rat, chicken, human infants, and fermented foods were characterized for desired probiotic functional properties including the phytase-producing ability which is one of the wanted characteristics for probiotics for potential applications for upgrading animal nutrition, enhancing feed conversion, and minimizing anti-nutritional properties. Among 62 LAB isolates Weissella kimchii R-3 an isolate from poultry gut exhibited substantial phytase-producing ability (1.77 U/ml) in addition to other functional probiotic characteristics viz. hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, coaggregation with bacterial pathogens, and antimicrobial activity against pathogens. Survival of W. kimchii R-3 cells (in free and calcium alginate encapsulated state) was examined sequentially in simulated gastric and intestinal juices. Encapsulated cells exhibited better survival under simulated gut conditions indicating that encapsulation conferred considerable protection against adverse gut conditions. Furthermore, simulated gastric and intestinal juices with pepsin and pancreatin showed higher survival of cells than the juices without pepsin and pancreatin. W. kimchii R-3 due to its significant functional probiotic attributes may have prospective for commercial applications in human/animal nutrition.