Antimicrobial activity of kombucha fermented beverage (KFB) singly or in combination with some plant extracts

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Botany Department, Faculty of science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.

2 Botany Department, Faculty of science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt.

Abstract

Infectious diseases have increased in the last years and, therefore, search for diets or beverages rich
with probiotics is necessary.In this regard kombucha is recommended as hygienic beverage . This is a
classic black tea beverage that has been sweetened and fermented by a microbial alliance and
consortium that consisted of yeasts and acetic acid bacteria. A potent mutual cooperation that can
impede and inhibit the growth of potentially contaminating pathogens is formed by this mixed
consortium. Because of the bacterial activity of specific strains of Acetobacter sp., the fermentation
process also results in the formation of a polymeric cellulosic pellicle. Certain biological activities that
have previously been studied increased during the microbial consortium's tea fermentation process.In
that work, kombucha fermented beverage (KFB) appeared to include bioactive compounds such as
organic acids including Formic,Lactic,Acetic, Citric,Succinic,Propionic and Butyric as elucidated by
HPLC analysis. The fermented metabolic conistituents of kombucha fermented beverage seem actually
to act in a mutually beneficial and collaporative action resulting in the antimicrobial activity. The agar
well diffusion assay was used to demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of two types of kombucha
preparations (fermented, neutralized) against a variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. In
comparison to a neutralized sample, KFB exhibited the strongest and most effective antimicrobial
activity. The organisms most vulnerable to the kombucha beverage preparations' antimicrobial
efficacy were the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC (27853) and Staphylococcus aureus
ATCC6538 (S. aureus). In addition to combined effect of combinations of both KFB and medicinal
plants extracts - such as( garlic ,pomegranate,ginger and mint)- in vitro against both S.aureus and
P.aeruginosa .These data reveal that kombucha singly or in combined is not only a prophylactic agent,
offering protection against pathogenic bacteria and fungi, Owing to its many health advantages,
kombucha is becoming more and more well-known globally. Traditionally, this beverage was made by
fermenting tea from the Camellia sinensis plant and using cellulosic biofilm, which is made up of a
mutually beneficial culture of yeast and bacteria (SCOBY). Further experiments in this study focused on
controlling the contamination of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus in BHI broth. and medicinal plant extracts like
that ginger, garlic, pomegranate and mint. The results demonstrated that in every trial, the KFB preparation greatly and dramatically inhibited both bacterial strains that either singly or in combination with medicinal
plants. This indicates that using KFB not just alone can yield positive results but also in acombined beverage
with medicinal plant due to its synergistic effect against pathogens for obtaining protective syrup .

Keywords

Journal of Basic and Environmental Sciences
Volume 11, Issue 1
January 2024
Pages 95-111

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