To address the rapidly growing use of probiotics in animal agriculture, this review discusses the effect of probiotics on animal growth and development, immune response, and productivity. Several benefits have been associated with the use of probiotics in farm animals, such as improved growth and feed efficiency, reduced mortality, and enhanced product quality. While the mechanisms through which probiotics induce their beneficial effects are not well understood, their role in modifying the gastrointestinal microbiota is believed to be the main mechanism. The use of probiotics in fresh and fermented meat products has been also shown to reduce pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and improve sensory characteristics. Although many benefits have been associated with the use of probiotics, their effectiveness in improving animal performance and product quality is highly variable. Factors that dictate such variability are dependent on the probiotic strain being utilized and its stability during storage and administration/inoculation, frequency and dosage, nutritional and health status as well as age of the host animal. Therefore, future research should focus on finding more effective probiotic strains for the desired use and identifying the optimum dose, administration time, delivery method, and mechanism of action for each strain/host.
Vegetable oils are a major source of healthy dietary lipids. However, the physicochemical
properties of vegetable oils are varied, which affects their application in foods.
Interesterification is a method often used to modify the physicochemical characteristics of
oils and fats. Enzymatic interesterification is a process that uses enzymes to exchange the
acyl groups among triacylglycerols (TAG); an immobilized lipase is one such enzyme that
can be used for interesterification. This study immobilized lipases from two strains of
thermophilic bacteria (Geobacillus stearothermophilus (GS) and Anoxybacillus
flavithermus (AF)) onto silica beads. These immobilized lipases were used to interesterify
soybean oil (SBO) with palmitic acid (PA) to change the physicochemical properties of
the oil. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the TAG
composition and free fatty acids (FFA) after interesterification. The melting point was
measured using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Optimum reaction conditions
were observed at 70°C, and 24 hrs for all reaction ratios of SBO to PA (1:0.1, 1:0.25, and
1:0.5 (v/v)). The PA significantly decreased after 24 hrs at all reaction ratios, and the TAG
concentration was significantly different after interesterification. FFA concentration
changed after SBO interesterification, and the melting points of the samples increased
from 4°C to 40°C. The results suggest that both immobilized lipases have suitable
properties for oil interesterification and industrial applications.
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