Oligosaccharide-producing lactic acid bacteria were isolated from young radish and identified as Weissella cibaria YRK005. Oligosaccharides from W. cibaria YRK005 were purified using size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography, and their structure was determined. The oligosaccharides consisted of glucose only, 1 H-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis revealed that the oligosaccharides consisted of 93.8% α-1,6 glycosidic linkages and 6.2% α-1,4 glycosidic linkages, and molecular weight was determined to be 1.1210 2 Da. When the oligosaccharides' prebiotic effect on probiotic strains was examined, the oligosaccharides promoted the growth of four probiotic strains, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactococcus lactis, and Lactobacillus pentosus, compared to fructo-oligosaccharides as a reference. These results indicated that oligosaccharides from W. cibaria YRK005 could be used as potential prebiotics.

Glucansucrase is an enzyme classified as a glycoside hydrolase (GH) 70 family, which catalyzes the synthesis of various glucans and glucooligosaccharides with a low molecular weight using sucrose as a donor of D-glucopyranose and maltose as a carbohydrate acceptor. Oligosaccharides are indigestiable carbohydrate with low calories, which have various positive effects on the health of intestinal track. In this study, oligosaccharide produced from Leuconostoc lactis CCK940 was purified and its prebiotics effect was investigated. Leuconostoc lactis CCK940 which isolated from Chinese cabbage kimchi produced oligosaccharide using 5%(w/v) sucrose as a donor and 3%(w/v) maltose as an acceptor. Oligosaccharide produced was purified using Bio-gel P2 column chromatography and DPs of the resulting oligosaccharide were ranged from 3 to 7. When the prebiotics effects of freeze dried oligosaccharide were examined, 1%(w/v) of purified oligosaccharide added to carbohydrate-free MRS showed good prebiotics effects on Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 12116, L. reuteri KCTC40417, and Bifidobacterium animalis KCCM1209.

This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of major prebiotics and the related studies, and to provide basic data for future research. Prebiotics are defined as ‘nondigestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, and thus improve host health’. Well-known prebiotics are inulin, oligofructose, and galacto-oligosaccharide. Prebiotics assist in the health activity of lactic acid bacteria by acting as a substrate for lactic acid bacteria, with their unique physical and chemical properties. Bifidobacteria are known to be beneficial bacteria that prevent intestinal inflammation, maintain intestinal microflora balance, inhibit carcinogenesis, reduce cholesterol, and enhance immunity. However, Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus, Bacillus, and Weissella are also found in animal-based fermented foods such as milk, cheese, yogurt, and salted fish. Prebiotics can act as a substrate for lactic acid bacteria, helping the activity of lactic acid bacteria and improving health. Therefore, the authors suggest that investigation into the category and effectiveness of prebiotics should be extended in the future through research.

Recently, many studies have shown that propolis has diverse health beneficial effects such as anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammation, and anti-oxidant activities. Water-insolubility of propolis has made it extremely difficult in manufacturing health beneficial beverages containing propolis. In this study, the solubility of propolis was dramatically improved by entrapping with beta-cyclodextrin and the prebiotics effect of water-soluble propolis on the yogurt fermentation was investigated. Lactobacillus pentosus SC60 was selected as a starter for the yogurt fermentation due to its high DPPH radical scavenging activity. Low-fat milk which was supplemented with different concentrations of propolis (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.5% (w/v)) was fermented with L. pentosus SC60 for 30 h and the viable cell number, pH, and titratable acidity were checked. The rates of decrease in pH and increase in titratable acidity of yogurt after 12 h of fermentation were the highest when 0.5% (w/v) propolis were supplemented. Meanwhile pH and titratable acidity of yogurt without propolis reached 4.54 and 0.73%, respectively, most slowly after 30 hoffer mentation when compared with other yogurts supple mented with propolis. The viable cell number of L. pentosus SC60 in yogurt with 0.5% (w/v) propolis increased with highest rate and it exceeded 9 log CFU/mL at 8 h of fermentation, but that of yogurt with no propolis was only 8.54 log CFU/mL at 30 h of fermentation. This results showed that L. pentosus SC60 grew very well in the presence of water-soluble propolis and it is proposed that propolis acts as prebiotics

The obsective of this study is to compare domestic chicory root powder with foreign chicory fructooligosaccharide (FOS) in effect of microflora in piglet feces and to sustitude domestic chicory for foreign chicory. The prebiotic effects of FOS from chicory (Chicorium intybus) was evaluated for livestock feed supplement. Chicory is a turberous plants containing inulin ,with high fructose contents its root. Piglets were fed one of three diets for 5 weeks, a control diet, a basal diet containing 0.2% of foreign chicory FOS and a basal diet containing 0.3% of domestic chicory root powder. Prebiotic effects of foreign chicory FOS and domestic chicory root powder were examined for their effects on the growth of fecal microorganism with piglet along with measuring pH changes of collected piglet feces during experimental periods (5 weeks). The results showed that the growth of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was significantly increased after feeding chicory FOS and chicory root powder supplemented feeds, and the increased occupancy ratio of LAB in the feces was observed. However, the occupancy ratio of Escherichia coli in piglet feces was continuously declined after treating feeds containing chicory FOS and root powder. No remarkable changes were observed in the growth of Clostridium perfringens throughout the experimental periods. A significantly decreased pH of the collected feces was observed after feeding chicory FOS and chicory root powder supplemented feeds. It was noteworthy that feeding chicory root powder more effectively decreased pH levels than those of chicory FOS. As a result of this it was expected that FOS from chicory could be applicable to pigs as prebiotics.