In Vivo Evaluation of Soya Beans Flour Fermented with Lactic Acid Bacteria as a Potential Probiotic Food

This research work was carried out to determine the in vivo antibacterial potential of soya beans flour fermented with lactic acid bacteria. This research focused on the feeding trial of formulated feed made of soya bean fermented for 72 hours with lactic acid bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus planetarium) for albino rats, this is to know the effect of this feed on the rat infected with pathogens, compare with those of control feed. The pathogens used were Escherichia coli, Shigella sp and Salmonella sp. The experiment was divided into eight (8) treatments. Treatments I and II were not infected. Treatment I was fed with normal basal diet while treatment II was fed with the fermented soya bean flour. This was to ascertain the level of existence of the pathogen and the lactic acid bacteria before the introduction the pathogens. Pathogens count in treatment IV, VI, and VIII (rats fed with fermented soya bean flour) decreases as feeding time increases compare to treatment III, V and VII (rat fed with basal diet) which increases with the feeding time. The rats were fed from day 0 to day 56. Lactic acid bacteria commonly used as starter cultures in food technology are known to manufacture antimicrobial products and improve the food the organolpetic properties having great potential. Also, the Haematological analysis showed that the rats infected with the pathogens and later fed with the fermented soya beans flour recovered fully since their values are well within the permissible limit and are not significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different from the control group. Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroids strains used were able to grow and metabolize during fermentation of soya beans flour. It may be concluded that fermented soya beans flour with these isolates can be used as probiotic food and this in turn can be used in the treatment of infection caused by pathogens. It is recommended that the use of probiotic food for treatments should encouraged as an alternative to the use of antibiotic.