Beyond nutrition, there is an increasing amount of data and information to demonstrate a bioactive role for dairy components in adults including a role in prevention of dental caries. Specifically, the casein fraction and hydrolysates thereof have been the focus of researchers investigating cariogenicity prevention. Tooth enamel is a polymeric substance consisting of crystalline calcium phosphate embedded in a protein matrix. Dental caries develop by acidic demineralization (calcium and phosphorus solubilization) of tooth enamel. Demineralization occurs directly (acidic food consumption) or indirectly (by fermentation products of dental plaque odontopathogenic bacteria growing on residual food particles between teeth or adhering to the plaque). Research efforts with milk derived bioactive peptides have focused on inhibition of cariogenic, plaque-forming bacteria, inhibition of tooth enamel demineralization, and subsequent enamel remineralization. Caseinophosphopeptides (CPP) and glycomacropeptide (GMP) have been patented for use in common personal hygiene products to prevent dental caries. Research has shown CPP and GMP to be growth inhibitory to the cariogenic bacteria Streptococcus mutans and other species. Additionally, CPP forms nanoclusters with amorphous calcium phosphate (AMP) at the tooth surface to provide a reservoir of calcium and phosphate ions to maintain a state of super saturation with respect to tooth enamel. This would buffer plaque pH, and also provide ions for tooth enamel remineralization. Glycosidic structures attached to GMP are important to numerous bioactive properties of the peptide including anticariogenicity. Like CPP, GMP has shown inhibitory activity to enamel demineralization and promotes tooth enamel remineralization.
Epiphytic LAB, e.g., lactobacilli, lactococci, enterococci, pediococci, streptococci, and leuconostocs, play a major role in silage fermentation. Their numbers and populations have become a concern in predicting the adequacy of silage fermentation and in determining whether or not to apply a bacterial inoculant (Bolsen et al, 1989). Epiphytic LAB counts are usually low and variable on silage crops (Lin et al, 1991), and increases in the LAB counts usually occur coincident to the chopping process. Only limited information is available concerning the succession of epiphytic LAB species during the ensiling period of alfalfa (Medicago sativaL.) and maize (Zea mays L.), the two major silage crops in North America. The present studies investigated the epiphytic LAB succession during the pre-ensiling and ensiling periods for two cuttings of alfalfa, each harvested at three stages of maturity, and three whole-plant maize hybrids.A second-year stand of alfalfa was harvested at the 2nd and 4th cuttings and at the late-bud, 10% bloom, and 50% bloom stages of maturity within each cutting in 1989. Following mowing, the alfalfa was wilted in the windrow for 5 to 6 hours prior to precision chopping.
Epiphytic microflora were identified and counted on four cuttings of alfalfa, each harvested at three stages of maturity, and on three whole-plant corn hybrids. Enterobacteriaceae were predominant on both crops. Yeasts and molds also were major epiphytic microorganisms on whole-plant corn. The group--including lactobacilli, pediococci, and leuconostocs, which are genera that produce lactic acid and thus are instrumental in silage preservation--constituted only a small proportion of the total population (less than .5%) on both crops. Lactate-fermenting clostridial spores were not detected on standing alfalfa, and occurrences of these spores on standing corn plants were due to soil contamination from rainfall prior to harvest. The numbers of epiphytic microorganisms, except for the lactobacilli, pediococci, and leuconostocs group, were higher on standing corn than on alfalfa. The epiphytic microflora on alfalfa increased with increasing temperature during the growing season. However, neither cutting number nor maturity affected the epiphytic microflora on standing alfalfa, and wilting following mowing had little effect on most populations. Higher temperatures during wilting increased yeast and mold counts but had no effect on other microbial counts. The chopping process tended to increase the epiphytic microflora populations compared with those on the standing crops, and the group containing lactobacilli, pediococci, and leuconostocs was most enhanced. Only yeast and mold counts on the chopped alfalfa increased with greater DM content and buffering capacity.
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