Chemical and physical characterization of microencapsulated Spirulina fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum

Spirulina fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) stands out among innovative fermented products with bioactive properties. In addition, the fermentation of algae with LAB has a significant effect on protein, essential amino acid content, essential fatty acid, etc. Changes in nutritional components, colour and morphological appearances of unfermented and fermented Spirulina as a result of microencapsulation with different ratios of coating material were investigated. The fermentation of wet Spirulina was carried out with Lactobacillus plantarum FI 8595 at 37 degrees C for 72 h under anaerobic condition. Microencapsulation of unfermented (USp) and fermented Spirulina (FSp) was performed by spray drying using 170 degrees C air inlet temperature, 20 mL/min feed flow rate and different ratios of maltodextrin. After fermentation, there was an increase in dry matter and crude ash contents unlike the protein content. Aspartic acid, histidine and lysine concentrations were found to be significantly higher in FSp compared to USp. The main fatty acids in USp and FSp were palmitic (27.39-31.11 %), gamma linolenic (17.41-18.93 %), linoleic (8.11-10.45 %) and palmitoleic acids (4.36-5.05 %). A significant decrease was observed in the phycocyanin content of Spirulina after fermentation. However, the highest total organic acid content was observed in spray dried fermented Spirulina groups (9-22 g/100 g). Increasing maltodextrin (MD) concentrations caused a significant reduction in moisture content of USp and FSp and provided more effective drying. In addition, with the increase of MD addition, the essential/nonessential amino acid ratio raised from 0.83 to 1.26 and from 0.72 to 0.76 in USp and FSp, respectively. According to the SEM results, it was observed that the fermented Spirulina were coated more effectively with the coating material. In addition, fermentation and microencapsulation revealed positive effects on colour properties of Spirulina. Therefore, it can be concluded that microencapsulation of fermented Spirulina has significant potential for the production of new functional foods.