Combination of bifidobacteria and arabinogalactan when fermenting skim milk

The work investigated the fermentation of skim milk with a concentrate of bifidobacteria ( Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium infantis ) in the presence of arabinogalactan in amounts of 3, 5, 7 and 10%. It was found that after fermentation at a temperature of 37 °C for 12 hours, the characteristic sour-milk taste and curd were not observed in any of the samples, regardless of the presence of arabinogalactan. It was revealed that after storage at a temperature of (4±2) °C for 10 days, the consistency of the control and test samples remained homogeneous, without separation and visible syneresis. The increase in titratable acidity at the post-oxidation stage for 10 days was no more than 1-2 °T. It was shown that, under experimental conditions, the number of viable bifidobacteria cells was greater in test samples containing from 5 to 10% arabinogalactan than in control variants and in samples with a mass fraction of arabinogalactan of 3%. Based on the totality of the observed results, it can be assumed that the prebiotic was used by microorganisms as a source of nutrition.