Abstract

• Kefir or kephir is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. Home-made kefir has been improved using various natural substrates such as milk, coconut water, and fruits such as grape, apple and dragon fruits. The present study includes isolation, culture and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from milk kefir. The isolated bacteria strain was characterized by gram staining and biochemical tests. The observed background color of the selected isolated bacteria strain is violet for gram staining, the isolated bacteria strain may be gram positive. From direct isolation from milk kefir, the isolated bacteria were negative for motility, indole, gelatin, citrate utilization, catalase, Voges-Proskauer, nitrate reduction, urease, starch hydrolysis tests, sugar fermentation test and methyl red test. For the result obtained, the most of biochemical tests for all bacteria slants were agree with reported literature data for lactic acid bacteria.