Evaluation of New Bacteriocin as a Potential Short-Term Preservative for Goat Skin

Abstract

Common salt (sodium chloride) and chemical preservatives are used for preservation of skins and leather to protect from microbial attacks, which leads to severe pollution problem. Bacteriocin is an eco-friendly option for skin and leather preservation in leather industry, which contains antimicrobial and antifungal components their fluid. Bacteriocin was extracted from <i>Lactobacillus plantarum </i>isolated from chicken meat by submerged fermentation method. The bacteriocin was tested against the skin putrefying organism <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> and <i>Bacillus putrefaciens </i>by plate assay method, which showed the activity of 200 AU/ml for <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa, </i>and<i> </i>340AU/ml for <i>Bacillus putrefaciens.</i> These two cultures were further analysed by SEM, which showed cleavage of bacterial cell walls due to action of bacteriocin. This study revealed the presence of antimicrobial activity in bacteriocin. Then the bacteriocin was tested for preservation of goat skin infected by skin putrefying organisms of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> and <i>Bacillus putrefaciens,</i> and its efficacy was studied. The microbial infected goat skin was preserved with 15% bacteriocin solution and stored for seven days at room temperature, which showed the complete inhibition of microbial growth even after seven days of storage. Then the goat skin was further processed into crust leather and which was analysed by SEM and physical testing data. The SEM analysis and physical testing data revealed no significant changes in the fiber structure of the skin due to preservation by bacteriocin. The pollution load generation (Total Dissolved solvents) has reduced at the level of 94.4% and 95.6% (of chlorides) during soaking process. The overall experiments revealed that the bacteriocin can be used as potential bio preservatives for preservation of skin and leather.