This study was conducted in order to evaluate the probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from intestinal tract of broilers and Thai indigenous chickens. The major properties, including the gastric juice and bile salts tolerance, starch, protein and lipid digesting capabilities, and the inhibition on certain pathogenic bacteria were investigated. Three-hundred and twenty-two and 226 LAB strains were isolated from ten broilers and eight Thai indigenous chickens, respectively. The gastrointestinal transit tolerance of these 548 isolates was determined by exposing washed cell suspension at 41°C to simulated gastric juice (pH 2.5) containing pepsin (3 mg ml -1 ), and to simulated small intestinal juice (pH 8.0) in the presence of pancreatin (1 mg ml -1 ) and 7% fresh chicken bile, mimicking the gastrointestinal environment. The survival of 20 isolates was found after passing through the gastrointestinal conditions. The survival rates of six strains; KT3L20, KT2CR5, KT10L22, KT5S19, KT4S13 and PM1L12 from the sequential study were 43.68, 37.56, 33.84, 32.89, 31.37 and 27.19%, respectively. Twelve isolates exhibited protein digestion on agar plate but no isolates showed the ability to digest starch and lipid. All 20 LAB showed the antimicrobial activity against Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli except one strain which did not show the inhibitory activity toward E. coli. Accordingly, five isolates of selected LAB (KT2L24, KT3L20, KT4S13, KT3CE27 and KT8S16) can be classified as the best probiotics and were identified as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus, and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. The survival rate of microencapsulation of E. durans KT3L20 under simulated small intestine juice after sequential of simulated gastric juice was also investigated. An extrusion technique exhibited a higher survival rate than emulsion technique and free cell, respectively.

Bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated and screened from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of Thai indigenous chickens. The bacteriocinogenic activities and the primary probiotic properties were determined. The bacteriocins produced by 14 strains of selected LAB displayed inhibitory activity against indicator strains after the supernatants were neutralized with NaOH in the following species: Lactobacillus sakei subsp. sakei JCM1157, Enterococcus faecalis VanB, Bacillus sp., and Listeria monocytogenes. The antagonistic activity of selected LAB was inactivated or decreased after being treated with proteolytic enzymes (α-chymotrypsin and trypsin). CR5-1 strain exhibited the highest level of activity (5120 AU/ml) in the stationary phase against L. sakei subsp. sakei JCM1157 in MRS broth at 37°C. The nine isolates of selected LAB were investigated for primary probiotic properties. The survival of the nine isolates was found to decrease approximately by 3 log CFU/ml after passing through the gastrointestinal conditions. All isolates exhibited protein digestion on agar plates but no isolates showed the ability to digest starch and lipid. Most of them showed high susceptibilities to some antibiotics (penicillin G, tetracycline and erythromycin). Thirteen LAB strains producing bacteriocin with strongly inhibitory activity were identified as Lactobacillus salivarius and only one strain was identified by 16S rDNA sequence analysis as Lactobacillus agilis.