Metabolic Functionality of the Synergistically Ameliorate Consortium Based on Wild Kefir Grains and Selected Microorganisms for Bovine Colostrum Fermentation

Abstract

The aim of the study was the investigation of the fermentative behaviour of multiple starter cultures with wild kefir grains and selected microorganisms. The enhance consortium was used for the bovine colostrum fermentation in order to obtain the reproducibility of the fermentation process in terms of the technological and functional properties of the fermented product, i.e. acidity, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Also, the scaling up technology for the production of fermented colostrum was performed in order to analyse the technological and functional properties of the consortium used as starter culture. Different fermented samples were obtained and analysed considering the pH, titratable acidity, antimicrobial activity (agar well-diffusion assay) and antioxidant potential (DPPH method). Fermented products with different characteristics were observed taking into consideration the variation of the biotechnological conditions or during the scale-up of the fermentation process. In order to offer a stable technological solution ready to be used in large scale manufacturing processes a technical variant which demonstrated reproducibility was proposed. The fermented product obtained by successive batches of fermentation showed almost 79% of acidity, 30% of the antioxidant potential, and the antimicrobial activity remained constant in comparison with the laboratory inoculum, which was
considered 100%.