Isolation and Identification of Lactic Acid Bacteria in Coconut Toddy (Mnazi)

Mnazi, like any other sugary plant sap can be processed into an alcoholic beverage through fermentation of the sugars present in the sap, yielding alcohol and carbon dioxide. It is sweet, dirty brown in color, containing 10-12% sugar, mainly sucrose (Okafor, 1975). The lactic acid bacteria isolated from mnazi were found to be Gram positive and catalase negative. A total of 86 isolates were obtained for preliminary identification. After further screening based on morphological and growth at different conditions, the number was reduced to 27. Further physiological tests led to further reduction of the isolates to 15. In addition, all the 15 strains were subjected to API 50 CHL fermentation profiling. Of the isolates 81% were identified as Lactobacillus paracaseisspparacasei. Specifically, 47% were identified as Lactobacillus paracaseisspparacasei 2, 27% Lactobacillus paracaseisspparacasei 1 while 7% were identified as Lactobacillus paracaseisspparacasei 3. Other species included Lactobacillus plantarum (13%) and Lactococusslactisssplactis 1 (6%). The presence of Lactic acid bacteria in mnazi is an indication that Lactobacilli are some of the natural microorganisms in mnazi that are responsible for its spoilage if not controlled.