Diversity of Enterococcus Strains in Raw Donkey Milk: Evaluating Their Technological Attributes and Safety Profiles

Raw donkey milk, a lesser-known but nutritionally valuable resource, has gained recognition for its unique composition and potential health benefits. It is within this context that the diversity, technological attributes, safety considerations, and probiotic potential of enterococci from raw donkey milk are explored. This study aimed to determine whether these isolates could be potential probiotics in donkey milk. A total of 25 Gram-positive, catalase-negative bacteria were obtained from twenty raw milk samples collected from a donkey species from Southern-Western Haryana, utilizing selective microbiological media. All isolates underwent identification through both phenotypic and molecular techniques and were subjected to a comprehensive assessment of their technological and probiotic properties. To assess their viability as starter or adjunct cultures, the isolates were evaluated for their susceptibility to antibiotics, absence of virulence factors, and absence of hemolytic activity, and the safety analysis of these isolates revealed that the majority exhibited susceptibility to clinically important antibiotics, such as vancomycin. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the Enterococci strains that are present in raw donkey milk are unlikely to pose a significant risk to human health. Additionally, they display noteworthy technological characteristics such as high antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas, Escherichia coli, etc. It was possible to enhance the antibacterial activities against these pathogenic strains by using various induction techniques and use them as potential probiotics in fermented food products.