Abstract

The present study was aimed to isolate probiotic bacteria from poultry feces and to study their physiological and biochemical as well as probiotic properties. Analysis of morphological, physiological and biochemical properties confirmed that all the bacteria were Gram positive, endospore negative, catalase negative and non-motile those are the characteristics of typical probiotics. Sugar fermentation profiling of 16 important sugars ensured the presumptive identification of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis and two Bifidobacterium species. All bacteria were resistant to artificial gastric juice environment at pH 2.2 and 6.6 but their resistance capacity decreased after 24 h of incubation at 37°C. These bacteria were found to multiply after 24 h of incubation at 0.3% of artificial bile salt, and to grow moderately even at 9% of NaCl. This study suggests that the isolated bacteria possess feasible physiological and biological properties to be good candidates for formulating probiotic mix for livestock and chicken.

Key words: Probiotics, chicken feces, livestock, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium.