ALGAL RESEARCH, cilt.73, ss.1-11, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
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 ◦C
for 72 h under anaerobic condition. Microencapsulation of unfermented (USp) and fermented Spirulina (FSp) was
performed by spray drying using 170 ◦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.