Exploring local edible plants as potential prebiotic sources for their synbiotic applications

This study investigates the identification of local edible plants as sources of inulin and evaluates their potential to promote probiotic growth and inhibit pathogenic bacteria, with the goal of advancing synbiotic development. Prebiotics, defined as dietary fibers that are selectively fermented by probiotics to confer health benefits, have garnered increasing attention in recent research. This study aimed to identify local edible plants as sources of inulin and assess their potential for functional food applications. Histochemical microscopic analysis revealed the presence of inulin crystals in fifteen edible plants. Crude inulin extracts from Pachyrhizus erosus and Psidium guajava L. showed notable prebiotic activity, promoting probiotic growth more effectively than standard inulin. Moreover, the cell-free supernatants of Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC14917, combined with the crude inulin extracts from P. erosus and P. guajava L., demonstrated significant bacteriostatic activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923. The synbiotic cultures exhibited strong bactericidal effects on S. aureus ATCC25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC25922, achieving a >90% inhibition rate (3–5 log CFU/mL reduction) after incubation. Notably, specific combinations, such as L. plantarum ATCC14917 with P. guajava L. and Bifidobacterium longum MTC1007 with P. erosus, yielded the highest prebiotic activity scores. These findings suggest that Pachyrhizus erosus and Psidium guajava L. are promising local sources of inulin, with the potential to support probiotic growth and contribute to the development of effective synbiotic formulations.