Isolation of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii as Starter Culture Candidate Originated from Indonesian Cow's Milk

Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus casei were successfully isolated from indigenous Indonesian fresh milk based on the general morphological and biochemical classification as described in Bergey's manual. Verification was conducted by sequencing of 16S rRNA after selection using the classification method mentioned in the manual. All isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the well diffusion test. The susceptibilities of the isolated S. thermophilus 24/S1 and L. delbrueckii 94/L4 against 22 different antibiotics were determined by the disc diffusion method and variable susceptibility patterns were observed. Both isolates were susceptible to amoxicillin, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic, and resistant to sulfonamide. The presence of a plasmid was not detected after extraction. S. thermophilus 24/S1 and L. delbrueckii 94/L4 starter cultures were prepared for yogurt production after 9.5 h of incubation and the yogurt was evaluated for its flavor and quality by 30 volunteers. A score of $4.93{\pm}0.45$ out of 7 was obtained as compared to the yogurt prepared using commercial starter cultures which yielded a score of $4.76{\pm}0.30$ out of 7.