Screening for efficient nitrogen sources for overproduction of the biomass of the functionally probiotic L. plantarum strain RPR42 in a cane molasses-based medium

Abstract Nitrogen source has a vital role for the efficient growth of lactobacilli. The effects of cheese whey, corn steep liquor, and wheat germ extract on the growth of L. plantarum strain RPR42 in cane molasses-based media was evaluated using various approaches of design of experiments. Our results showed that such protein-rich agricultural by-products significantly increase the biomass production of the strain RPR42 in cane molasses-based media. The most affecting nitrogenous material was cheese whey followed by CSL and the minor effect was reported for wheat germ extract as revealed in factorial and Box–Behnken design experiments. The replacement of costly beef extract and yeast extract with a defined mixtures of the above nitrogenous agricultural by-products in cane molasses-based medium led to production of up to 12.64 g/L/24 h of dry biomass of strain RPR42. A detectable cell density of strain RPR42 (~ 9.81 × 109 CFU/mL 24 h) which was observed in such an economic medium showed that the large-scale production of the strain RPR42 tend to be feasible at significantly low costs.