Fermentation of Xylo-Oligosaccharides obtained from Wheat Bran and Bengal Gram Husk by Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria

Different strains of Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli
and Pediococci spp. were evaluated for their utilization of
xylo-oligosaccharides derived from Bengal gram husk and
wheat bran water extractable polysaccharides. The fermentation
pattern of xylo-oligosaccharides by bacteria depends on
the nature of xylo-oligosaccharides i.e. degree of polymerization
and arabinose to xylose ratio as well as the bacterial strain
tested, which inturn are very important for designing speciesspecific
prebiotic xylo-oligosaccharides and synbiotic preparations
for incorporation in various health foods. All the
bacterial strains tested readily utilized xylo-oligosaccharides
derived from bengal gram husk and wheat bran as indicated
by the increase in (a) turbidity of the culture broth (b)
xylanase, xylosidase and arabinosidase activities (c) dry cell
mass and (d) the liberation of short chain fatty acids (SCFA).
Acetate was found to be the major SCFA produced as the end
product of fermentation and its amount varied from 75.4 to
100 mol%. Xylo-oligosaccharides derived from wheat bran
were found to have better prebiotic activity compared to the
one derived from Bengal gram husk and this can be ascribed
to relatively high amount of arabinose.