BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FERMENTATION OF GLUCOSE AND STARCH BYRABBIT CECAL STRAINS OF BIFIDOBACTERIUM-GLOBOSUM

Two strains of Bifidobacterium globosum were isolated from caecal cont ents of rabbits in a search for potential probiotics. Both strains fer mented glucose, galactose, pentoses, maltose, raffinose and starch. Co mmon coccidiostats (monensin, salinomycin) and antimicrobial growth pr omoters (avoparcin, bacitracin, nitrovin, virginiamycin) supplied at 1 0 mg/L inhibited their growth in cultures with glucose. Fermentation p arameters of bifidobacteria on glucose and starch differed. More forma te and ethanol and less lactate were produced during growth on glucose than during growth on starch. When growing on starch, the two strains of bifidobacteria produced 1 mel lactate per 5.6 and 5.7 mol acetate, respectively. Corresponding values during growth on glucose were 17.3 and 8.4 mel of acetate per mol of lactate. Starch-grown cells accumul ated more saccharides than cells grown on glucose (1.48 vs. 0.41 and 3 .12 vs. 1.18 mmol glucose units per 1 g of dry matter, respectively).