Effect of Co-encapsulation of Probiotics with Prebiotics and their Survivability in Dahi during Storage

The present study was done to evaluate the effect of co-encapsulation of probiotics viz, Lactobacillus paraplantarum 321 and Bifidobacterium bifidum 235 along with commercial prebiotic sugars on their survivability, changes in pH and acidity of dahi, analyzed during 20 days of refrigerated storage (40C) at four days interval. The co-encapsulation of probiotics @ 1×107cfu/g together with 3% prebiotic sugars (FOS) was carried out by extrusion method using 2% sodium alginate. Five different dahi treatments were prepared i.e. control, dahi (T1) supplemented with encapsulated L. paraplantarum 321 along with prebiotics, dahi (T2) supplemented with non encapsulated L. paraplantarum 321 along with prebiotics, dahi (T3) supplemented with encapsulated B. bifidum 235 along with prebiotics and dahi (T4) supplemented with non encapsulated B. bifidum 235 along with prebiotics. The results showed that there was no significant difference in pH and acidity values in all dahi treatments during storage at 40C. The mean probiotic counts obtained in T2 (7.46 log cfu/g) and T4 (7.41 log cfu/g) dahi treatments were significantly (p<0.05) higher than T1 (7.12 log cfu/g) and T3 (7.17 log cfu/g) dahi treatment groups, respectively on 20th day. But, T1 and T3 dahi groups probiotic bacterial counts (1×107cfu/g) did not change during storage (40C). Thus, non encapsulated cells showed higher counts than encapsulated cells due to the availability of free prebiotic sugars for their growth.