Suvarna, V. ChavannavarAMEENA SULTHANA, J.H.2021-09-292021-09-292018-08-01Th-12077https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810176404Association of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with the plant surfaces is well known. These LAB possess beneficial attributes for human and animal health. So, to exploit beneficial properties their association with edible plant surfaces has been studied. Fruits and vegetables consumed in raw forms viz., amla, carrot, fenugreek leaves, coriander leaves, guava and radish were selected. LAB were isolated by standard plate count method. The highest LAB population was with carrot surface (214×103 cfu/ g) followed by coriander (98.66x103 cfu/g). Spoilage bacteria and molds were isolated from same spoiled sources. Spoilage molds were identified as Pencillium sp., Fusarium sp., Cephalosporium sp., Rhizopus sp., Aspergillus niger and A. flavus. Thirty LAB isolates were obtained, six (one from each source) were selected depending on their vigour and labelled as L1 to L6. LAB isolates were screened for antimicrobial activity by agar plug diffusion assay. Out of six LAB isolates, three best isolates were selected. These were tested for their antagonistic activity against spoilage molds such as Penicillium sp., Rhizopus sp., and Fusarium sp. Isolate L1 (amla) exhibited the highest inhibition against Rhizopus sp. (94%), L4 inhibited Fusarium sp. up to 83.42% and L6 inhibited Penicillium sp. to an extent of 88%. These LAB were able to inhibit all these dominant molds. L1 showed the highest zone of inhibition against SB1 (spoilage bacteria 1) i.e. 6.75 sq.cm. followed by L4 with 6.28 sq.cm zone of inhibition against SB3. L6 did not show any antibacterial property.EnglishThesis