Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. Neem gum is an exudate from the neem plant (Azadirachta indica) with its main constituent being water-soluble non-starch heteropolysaccharide. Gum cannot be degraded in the digestive tract but has the potential to be used as a substrate by lactic acid bacteria. In addition, this material also has the potential to reduce the number of pathogenic bacteria. This ability makes neem gum a candidate for prebiotics, which is becoming the latest food trend.
Materials and methods. Neem gum samples were taken from Baluran and the bacteria used were Lactobacillus acidophilus (La) (FNCC 0051), Bifidobacterium longum (Bl) (FNCC 0210), Escherichia coli (EC) (FNCC 0091), and Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) (FNCC 0050). Bacteria were counted by MTT assay and the total plate count method.
Result. The results showed that the number of bacteria exposed to neem gum solution at three different concentrations, namely P5% (w/v), P10% (w/v), and P20% (w/v), experienced an increase in lactic acid bacteria and a decrease in pathogenic bacteria. The increase in the number of lactic acid bacteria was due to fermentation carried out using bacterial extracellular enzymes. The decrease in pathogenic bacteria was due to the inability of the bacteria to utilize heteropolysaccharides as a substrate, which resulted in disruption of the bacterial nutrient uptake. These two things indicate that neem gum solution has the potential to be used as a constituent of prebiotic drinks.