RESUMEN
Studies of the ability of probiotics to ferment cereal flours are necessary to obtain products with enhanced nutritional value. In this study, Lactobacillus paracasei CBA-L74 was used to ferment cereal aqueous mixtures containing both oat (7.5% w/v) and rice flours (7.5% w/v), with and without glucose, to understand whether glucose addition could have any effect on growth and metabolism. Viability, pH, metabolites production during fermentation (24 h, 37 °C) and substrates reduction were analysed. The strain showed good growth in the cereal aqueous mixture both with and without glucose addition, but suspensions prepared with glucose showed the best results. A bacterial concentration of 7 log CFU mL-1, a pH value of 4.70 and lactic acid production of 1250 mg L-1 were achieved when fermentation was performed without glucose addition, while in the presence of glucose, a t24 bacterial growth of 8 log CFU mL-1 was reached, with a pH value of 3.11 and lactic acid production of 6050 mg L-1.