Abstract
The increase of crop production along with stricter requirements on food security have augmented the demand of new and eco-friendly bactericides. Most of the bactericides used at the moment consist of persistent organic substances, representing a risk for environmental and human health. For instance, agriculture bactericides used for crop protection includes copper-based, dithiocarbamate and amide bactericides, which are not biodegradable, resulting in the necessity of further research about the production of new active principles that attack microorganisms without producing any harmful effect on human health or environment. The biosurfactant extract evaluated in this work as a bactericide, is obtained from corn steep water, a residual stream of corn wet milling industry, which is fermented spontaneously by probiotic lactic acid bacteria that possess the capacity to produce biosurfactants. In previous works, it has been demonstrated that this biosurfactant extract is able to promote the growth of Lactobacillus casei in drinkable yogurts, though its antimicrobial activity against pathogenic strains has not been evaluated at the moment. The results obtained in this work have proved that this biosurfactant extract is effective as bactericide against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, at concentrations of 1 mg/mL, opening the door to its use in agrifood formulations for reducing the use of chemical pesticides and preservatives.
Highlights
Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds of microbial origin
Biosurfactants extracted from corn steep water (CSW), which shows a content of 50% in solids, are secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms, including probiotic lactic acid bacteria, that grow spontaneously in this agroindustrial stream, and they have showed promising results for their application in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical or food industry as it has been proved in recent publications [1,2,3]
Concerning the food industry, López-Prieto et al [3] have demonstrated that this extract promotes the growth of probiotic bacteria like L. casei in drinkable yogurts, its antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria has not been evaluated at the moment
Summary
Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds of microbial origin. They are able to reduce the surface tension of water helping in the stabilization of emulsions and in the solubilization of hydrophobic substances in formulations, with further and potential applications in a wide range of areas in the industry, such as the cosmetic, pharmaceutical or food industry [1,2,3]. López-Prieto et al [3] have demonstrated that a biosurfactant extract obtained from a residual stream, of corn wet milling industry, named corn steep water (CSW) and fermented spontaneously by lactic acid bacteria, is able to promote the growth of Lactobacillus casei (L. casei) in drinkable yogurts.
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