Tarbiat Modares University Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 1680-7073 Articles in Press 2026 05 16 Improving Probiotic Viability: The Effect of Alyssum homolocarpum gum as an Encapsulation Material 28668 EN Akram Sadat Tabatabaee Bafroee Department of Biology, ET.C, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 0000-0003-0309-2206 Negar Heydari Department of Nutrition, Electronic Health and Statistics Surveillance Research Center, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Elahe Nazari Department of Nutrition, Electronic Health and Statistics Surveillance Research Center, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Saeedeh Shojaee-Aliabadi Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Journal Article 2023 08 09 <strong>As a practical approach, spray-drying microencapsulation is employed to protect probiotic cultures from intense thermal treatments and physiological stresses in the gut. Nonetheless, ensuring the survival of </strong><span class="p"><em>Lactobacillus acidophilus</em> La-5 remains a significant concern when subjected to industrial-scale drying at high inlet temperatures (140–150°C). This study investigated the protective effects of </span><strong><em>Alyssum homolocarpum</em></strong><span class="p"> seed (AHS) gum, combined with two wall systems: low methoxyl pectin/β-glucan and sodium alginate/maltodextrin. </span><strong>Fabrication of the microcapsules involved a spray-dryer operating with a feed-in temperature of 140–150°C, while the discharge air was maintained at 80–85°C. The findings indicated that AHS gum significantly boosted both encapsulation efficiency (EE %) and the resilience of probiotic cells. Specifically, the survival rate of these microencapsulated strains improved from 68.4% up to 82.6% when exposed to thermal stress (55–75 °C) for periods of 1 to 10 minutes<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA">.</span></strong><strong> </strong>Furthermore, SEM images revealed that the addition of AHS gum resulted in smoother microcapsule surfaces with reduced porosity (mean diameter: 18.5–22.3 μm). Under simulated gastrointestinal conditions, the LMP/β-glucan/AHS formulation retained 79.8% viability after 120 min in SIF, significantly higher than the control (28.0%). These findings confirm that AHS gum acts as an effective co-wall material, enhancing both the physical stability and probiotic resilience during processing and storage<br><br>  https://jast.modares.ac.ir/article_28668_2ef13886ae1ff812f347d9af833fa57a.pdf