The aim of this study was to determine the effect of chitosan and chitosan oligosaccharides (COS),
prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulase from Trichoderma reesei, Celluclast® on the growth of
Bifidobacterium sp. The growth of the two bacteria strains were determined every 12 h for 48 h under
anaerobic incubation at 37 °C in four MRS media containing lactose, COS, chitosan and inulin. The
bacteria cell growth in substrate-added medium increased significantly after 48 h of incubation, except
for the chitosan medium. COS was found to have a similar growth effect on B. bifidum ATCC 11863
and B. breve ATCC 15700 when compared with inulin and lactose. The pH of medium containing
COS, inulin and lactose fermented with B. bifidum ATCC 11863 and B. breve ATCC 15700 decreased
rapidly after 12 h. B. bifidum ATCC 11863 showed the highest specific growth rate at 12 h. The results
revealed that COS support the growth of probiotic bacteria, thus indicating that COS has the potential
as new prebiotic source in the functional food industry.