Suppression on the Aflatoxin-B Production and the Growth of Aspergillus flavus by Lactic Acid Bacteria (Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus plantarum)

This research was aimed to study the potency of lactic acid bacteria in the inhibition of A. flavus growth and the production of aflatoxin-B. Three species of the bacteria i.e., Lactobacillus delbrueckii, L. fermentum and L. plantarum were investigated for their ability in degradation of aflatoxin-B and suppressing its production as well as inhibiting the growth of A. flavus. The trial was designed in three variations by challenging the fungi with each lactic acid bacteria species, before (preceding), at the same time (simultaneous) and after (proceeding) fungal inoculation. It was found that all species of lactic acid bacteria are potential to inhibit fungal growth. Furthermore, aflatoxin-B was also able to be reduced in the medium by all the species. L. fermentum gave the lowest concentration of aflatoxin-B, followed by L. delbrueckii and L. plantarum during 15 days incubation with a total average concentration of 0.20, 0.31 and 0.45 mg L super(-1), respectively, compared with control which produced 1.09 mg L super(-1). In conclusion, this study was able to demonstrate that lactic acid bacteria are able to suppress the growth of A. flavus as well as to degrade the aflatoxin-B.