Isolation and Determination of Technological Properties of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Native Plants of the Gran Chaco - Region of South America.

Native vegetables from the Gran Chaco, a region of South America, have historically been the food of autochthonous groups and are presented as an unexplored source of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This is why the present work presents the isolation of LAB from native plants: prickly pear, ñangapirí, burr gherkin, white carob, chañar and tutiá, for potential use in the development of fermented or functional foods with these native vegetables or other food matrices. For which different technological and enzymatic characterizations were applied to the isolated and selected LAB. A total of 11 LAB were obtained, with notable differences in their technological properties regarding the production of metabolites of interest such as diacetyl-acetoin, pectinolytic, lipolytic and glycolytic enzymes. These characteristics would enable its potential use in different fermented foods obtained from the native vegetables studied and in other food matrices, reducing anti-nutritional factors and enhancing flavour characteristics. This study has allowed to increase the biodiversity of lactic acid bacteria obtained from native fruits of Latin America, providing more knowledge of their technological potential to be applied to the production of functional foods, promoting the revaluation of these plant species, adding value to them and promoting their production on a larger scale. This would enhance the economic and social interest in the native plant crops studied.