Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Indigenous Fermented Bamboo Products of Arunachal Pradesh in India and Their Functionality

Ekung, eup and hirring are some common indigenous fermented bamboo products of Northeast India. We have isolated, characterized, and identified the predominant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from 44 samples of ekung, eup, and hirring and studied their technological properties. The phenotypic characterizations of LAB isolates were based on physiological, biochemical tests and API kits, and were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, L. casei, L. fermentum, Lactococcus lactis, and Tetragenococcus halophilus. Technological properties of LAB such as acidifying capacity, antimicrobial activities, degradation of phytic acid and oligosaccharides, bile-salt tolerance, enzymatic activities, biogenic amines production, and degree of hydrophobicity also were studied. This study showed that strains of LAB played important roles by their functional properties related to acidifying capacity, degradation of antinutritive factors, tolerance to bile-salt, wide enzymatic activities, and nonproducers of biogenic amines. Understanding the biological and biochemical basis of indigenous knowledge of the ethnic people of Northeast India for production of nonperishable bamboo shoots by lactic acid fermentation has merit. It helps to develop both low-cost functional foods, and understand the functionality of microbial diversity. Some of the LAB strains possess functional properties, which render them interesting candidates for use as LAB starter cultures.