RESUMEN
The food industry constantly seeks new starter cultures with superior characteristics to enhance the sensory and overall quality of final products. Starting from a collection of Algerian dairy (goat and camel) lactic acid bacteria, this work focused on the exploration of the technological and probiotic potential of Weissella cibaria (VR81 and LVT1) and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum R12 strains isolated from raw camel milk and fermented milk, respectively. These bioactive strains were selected for their high performance among ten other LAB strains and were used as starter cultures to develop a novel and nutritionally enhanced dairy-like plant-based yogurt using quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) as a raw matrix. The strains were evaluated for their antagonistic effects against Listeria innocua, Listeria ivanovii, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, resilience to acidic and osmotic challenges, and tolerance to gastrointestinal mimicking conditions (i.e., pepsin and bile salt). Their aggregation and adhesion profiles were also analyzed. Furthermore, L. plantarum and W. cibaria were tested in single and co-culture for the fermentation and biocontrol of quinoa. The strains exhibited probiotic properties, including a high potential for biocontrol applications, specifically against L. innocua and P. aeruginosa (20 mm diameter zone with the neutralized cell-free supernatant), which disappeared after protease treatment, suggesting that bioactive peptides might be responsible for the observed antimicrobial effect. Additionally, they demonstrated resilience to acidic (pH 2) and osmotic challenges (1M sucrose), tolerance to gastro-intestinal conditions, as well as good aggregation and adhesion profile. Furthermore, the strains were able to produce metabolites of interest, such as exopolysaccharide (yielding up to 4.7 mg/mL) and riboflavin, reaching considerable production levels of 2.5 mg/L upon roseoflavin selection. The application of W. cibaria and L. plantarum as primary starters (both in single and co-culture) for fermenting quinoa resulted in effective acidification of the matrix (ΔpH of 2.03 units) and high-quality beverage production. in vivo challenge tests against L. innocua showed the complete inhibition of this pathogen when L. plantarum was included in the starter, either alone or in combination with W. cibaria. Both species also inhibited Staphylococcus and filamentous fungi. Moreover, the co-culture of mutant strains of L. plantarum R12d and W. cibaria VR81d produced riboflavin levels of 175.41 µg/100 g in fermented quinoa, underscoring their potential as starters for the fermentation, biopreservation, and biofortification of quinoa while also displaying promising probiotic characteristics.
RESUMEN
Coagulation of milk in the stomach is the first crucial step in its digestion. Using a human gastric simulator, the dynamic gastric digestion of goat and sheep skim milk were compared with that of cow skim milk, focusing particularly on their physical characteristics. The gastric contents were analyzed for changes in dry matter and microstructure, and the extent of protein digestion. The study revealed that the skim milk from all species formed a curd within the first 15 min of gastric digestion, at which time the pH was ~6.1 to 6.3. Compared with cow skim milk, the dry matter contents of the clots formed from goat and sheep skim milk were lower and higher, respectively, which was due to the differences in their total solids and protein contents. Microstructural analysis showed that, as digestion progressed, the clot structure became more cohesive, along with a decrease in moisture content, which in turn affected the breakdown and hydrolysis of caseins by pepsin; this phenomenon was similar for milk from all species. However, the extent of moisture retained in the sheep skim milk clot appeared to be lower than those of the cow and goat skim milk clots. In addition, the relative firmness of the sheep milk clot was higher than those of the cow and goat milk clots at the end of gastric digestion. The pattern of protein hydrolysis by pepsin was similar for the milk of all species, despite the differences in the proportions of different proteins. The study provided insight into the coagulation kinetics of goat and sheep skim milk under in vitro gastric digestion conditions.
