Abstract

*S. V. R. Govardhan Reddy, E. Naga Vardhan, K. Krishna vamsi and B. Satyanand G. Sushmitha

ABSTRACT

Lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus pentosus, were isolated from the breast milk of six healthy breast feeding mothers using MRS agar media and API50CHL kit and the total Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) count determined. These bacteria were facultative anaerobic, gram positive, catalase negative and non-endospore forming. The LAB isolates Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus pentosus showed a great antimicrobial effect on all the indicator organisms, namely Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, Shigella sp. and Shigella sp. Klebsiella sp. had the highest susceptibility of 16 mm and 14 mm on Lactobacillus plantaru and Lactobacillus pentosus respectively, while Escherichia coli had the least zone of inhibition of 11 mm and 6 mm on Lactobacillus plantaru and Lactobacillus pentosus respectively. It was found that human milk is a source of potential probiotic organisms which addition to infant formulas could be an alternative to the functional effects of human milk.