Effects of Selenium on the Growth and Fermentation Properties of Se‐Enriched Bacillus Subtilis J‐2

This paper describes the effect of sodium selenite on the growth and fermentation properties of Bacillus subtilis J-2 (BSJ-2) which was isolated from the water of Chinese fermented pickles. The results of the optimum Se-added conditions are as follows: addition concentration 45 μg/mL, addition time 4 h and inoculation quantity 2%. At this site, the Se conversion ratio was 73.8 ± 3.4%. With the increasing of selenium concentration, the alkaline protease activity has a slight increase at the optimum growth conditions, while the variation of the neutral protease activity had no significant difference among the five samples in the 1,000–1,100 μg/mL range. Added selenium had a positive impact on the antimicrobial ability of strains. Practical Applications The increasing popularity of Se-enriched microorganism among food preservatives and food fermentation was well concerned about in the recent years. The present study has demonstrated that Bacillus subtilis has a suitable Se-enriched condition and can enhance the growth and protease activities applied in food fermentation which can promote efficiency and cost savings. Health-promoting effect is shown through the relatively high conversion on Se-enriched Bacillus subtilis J-2. It is expected that Se-enriched B. subtilis J-2 could be applied in food industries as an antiseptic agent to improve the antimicrobial ability. Our previous studies demonstrated that Se-enriched B. subtilis can be applied as a safe and healthy potential dietary resource of nontoxic selenium to food fermentation and effective functional substance in food and medical industry.