Production of prebiotic chitooligosaccharide and its nano/microencapsulation for the production of functional yoghurt

•Chitooligosaccharide was produced by the enzymatic hydrolysis of chitosan.•Prebiotic and antioxidant activities for the produced chitooligosaccharide were confirmed.•Nanoparticles and microcapsule were used to entrap chitooligosaccharide to extend its stability in yoghurt. Production and potential application of chitooligosaccharide is reported in this study. Chitooligosaccharide was produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of chitosan using Bacillus cereus chitosanase. The chitooligosaccharide was characterized, and its prebiotic activity together with the antioxidant activity were evaluated and compared to marketed standard and chitosan. Additionally, its stability in yoghurt was monitored. The produced chitooligosaccharide was water soluble with molecular weight of 2.005 kDa and higher degree of acetylation. Bioactivity results cleared the chitooligosaccharide has potent prebiotic plus antioxidant activity with poor stability in yoghurt. Subsequently, encapsulation of chitooligosaccharide into nanoparticles and microparticle were assessed to enhance its stability. Our results indicated that nanoparticles with size 100 nm maintained 96.83 + 1.2 % of chitooligosaccharide in yoghurt during shelf life compared to 45.09 ± 2.5 % for microparticle (850 μm). Finally, the sensory evaluation favored the yoghurt containing chitooligosaccharide nanoparticles over free chitooligosaccharide or chitooligosaccharide microparticle, which suggest nanoparticles as potential formula to boost the chitooligosaccharide stability in yoghurt.