Effect of Lactic Acid Bacteria on the Quality Attributes of Tea-Like Product from Blends of Drumstick (Moringa oleifera) Leaves and Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

Abstract

Moringa oleifera leaves and Ginger crops still remain an underutilized commodity because of limited information on its wider use. Moringa oleifera is very rich in nutrition but has undesirable taste and flavor. However, addition of ginger takes the edge off the bitter spinachy taste of Moringa oleifera leaves. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are important microbes that have long been used in both traditional and modern industrial food fermentation. Lactic acid bacteria can be used for production of food due to their ability to coax microorganisms into producing In the process of food fermentation; microorganisms produce enzymes to break down complex compounds to simple bio-molecules for several biological activities such as proteinase, amylase, mannase, cellulase, and catalase. The aim of this research work is to determine the effect of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation on the quality attributes of tea-like beverage produced from blends of Moringa oleifera leaves and Ginger(Zingiber officinale). The results showed that The phenotypic and biochemical characteristic of Blends of Drumstick leaves (Moringa oleifera) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reveals that the isolates were presumptively categorized to belong to the genus Lactobacillus, the isolates are gram positive, cocci, rod shaped, either, short rod or long rods, non-sporulating, ferments carbohydrate, non-motile and catalase negative. Technological properties of isolates are the properties that indicate the quality of the isolate to be used as a starter culture in the course of fermentation. A total of 35 colonies were isolated from the blend samples. Of them, 3 colonies were identified as Lactobacillus species, through observation of phenotypic characters, and identification, It was found that L. plantarum had tolerance under acid conditions, as its viable cell count remained at pH 2.0 and under 1.0 % bile salt condition, after 72 h incubation time. The proximate and energy content of fermented beverage produced from the blends shows that percent Dry matter, Moisture content, Crude protein, Ether extract , Crude fibre, Ash, carbohydrate and energy value were ranged from 10.00- 30.00, 4.0-5.0, 35.00 -71.00, 3.0-5.0, 11.00 - 18.00,3.0-10,7.0-15 and 74Kcal - 396Kcal respectively. The study concludes that The phenotypic and biochemical characteristic of blends of drum stick leaves (Moringa oleifera) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reveals that the isolates were to belong to the genus Lactobacillus. Also, Many of the LAB metabolites such as low molecular weight acids, alcohols, carbon dioxide, diacetyl and hydrogen peroxides have broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against other species of bacteria. The proximate and energy value of the beverage plays a crucial role in assessing its nutritional significance (P<0.05). Consequently, the fermentation of these blends with LAB species might provide a means of retaining more of the nutrients that are trapped in the matrix of the cells of these plant materials.