Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(3): 1250-1262 1250 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.703.148 Synbiotic Yogurt Supplemented with Ocimum sanctum Essential Oil Santosh Anand 1* , Manju Gaare 2 , Priyanka Saini 1 , Arun Beniwal 1 and Chand Ram Grover 1 1 Bioremediation Research Laboratory, Dairy Microbiology Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India 2 Department of Dairy and Food Microbiology, GN Patel College Dairy Science and Food Technology, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Dairy foods have been consumed since ages as almost complete foods to meet body energy requirements. Dairy foods especially fermented products are highly consumed by people of all age groups and have been choice of innovation to fulfil fluctuating needs of consumers (Si et al., 2006; Ares et al., 2010). Now a day‟s food habit focuses on foods search with dual purposes, health benefits beyond traditional nutrition and a hygienically International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 03 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present investigation was focused primarily to develop synbiotic herbal yoghurt incorporating Ocimum sanctum essential oil (EO). Prebiotic was selected on the basis of specific growth rate (μ) of cultures. EO concentration was optimized on the basis of its compatibility of culture and sensory properties. Investigations on effect of prebiotics (inulin and maltodextrin) on growth kinetics of probiotic cultures indicate that former enhanced change in log count/ml and specific growth rate (μ) faster than maltodextrin at 3% level. Change in log count and specific growth rate were observed to the tune of 1.78 CFU/ml and 0.683 h -1 at 3% inulin in comparison to 1.42 CFU/ml and 0.545 h -1 of maltodextrin at above level during incubation period in case of L. bulgaricus LB-2. Almost similar trend was obtained in case of S. thermophilus ST-1 for both prebiotics. Culture inoculum at rate of 1%and EO at concentration 0.5 μL/ml was found compatible with yoghurt culture on the basis of sensory, physiological and microbiological quality. The developed product was assessed for shelf life quality parameters upto 21 days. The developed product was judged suitable for consumption with acceptable sensory attributes and viable probiotic counts (10 8 -10 9 cfu/ml) till 15 days of storage. The developed product possesses antioxidative activity and phenol content of 763.8μM trolox equivalent/L and 7 mg GAE/100 ml respectively. Further research is needed by employing clinical trials to substantiate in vitro data. As a value added synbiotic herbal product, it may have great potential for commercialization. Keywords Yoghurt, Prebiotic, Probiotic, Essential oil, Symbiotic Accepted: 10 February 2018 Available Online: 10 March 2018 Article Info