Comparative Evaluation of various lactic acid bacteria in fermented vegetables of North-East India.

The North Eastern part of India is a land of diverse culture and tradition. There are several
fermented foods prepared and consumed by different tribes of North East India. The
present work deals with the diversity of microorganisms in Gundruk, Sinki, and Khalpi,
fermented vegetable products of North East India prepared by the fermentation of lactic acid
bacteria. The samples of these fermented vegetable products collected from different local
markets of Sikkim were screened. Various cultures were isolated from Gundruk, Sinki, and
Khalpi, of which six are identified to be lactic acid bacteria by Gram‟s staining, catalase test, and
fermentative use of glucose under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. From various physiological
and biochemical analysis of sugar fermentation, temperature tolerance, the isolates were
tentatively identified to be Lactobacillus plantarum (G5-2, KP3, SK3-1), Lactobacillus sp. (G8-2,
G10-1), (G10-1) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (KP4), respectively.
The RAPD-PCR products obtained from the DNA isolates of Gundruk, Sinki and Khalpi were
analysed and similarity was found between the banding patterns of G5-2, G10-1, G8-2, and SK3-
1 while KP4 and KP3 were found to be different.
This study shows the potential of fermented vegetable products to be used as health foods and
additives because of their rich nutritional value and the potential of LAB strains to be used as
starter cultures to improve the commercial value of ethnic fermented food products and also to
preserve the valuable bacterial strains as genetic resources of North East India.