en Food Science Food Science پژوهشي Research <strong>Background and Objectives: </strong>Ice cream is a probiotic carrier and <em>Bifidobacterium</em> spp. are used to promote health benefits such as vitamin improvement. These bacteria are commonly known as probiotic bacteria. The objective of the present study was to add Japanese loquats, <em>Bifidobacterium lactis</em> and <em>Bifidobacterium bifidum</em> to improve beneficial and nutritional characteristics of ice creams.<br> <strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>Bacteria were used in various ice cream samples supplemented with Japanese loquat pulps (10, 20 and 30% concentrations). Then, physicochemical&nbsp; (pH, acidity, protein, fat, ash and dry matter), melting, colorimetric (<em>L^*, a^*</em> and <em>b^*</em>), overrun and sensory characteristics were assessed. Bioactive parameters of the ice creams, including phenolic component, antioxidant activity, probiotic bacterial survival and folate value, were investigated&nbsp; within eight weeks.<br> <strong>Results: </strong>Ash, dry matter, melting rate and overrun significantly increased by adding Japanese loquat pulps (<em>p </em>< 0.05). However, no significant effects on pH, acidity, protein and fat of various probiotic ice creams were seen by increasing pulps (<em>p </em>> 0.05). Probiotic ice creams significantly included further phenolic compounds (98.63 mg GAE/100g), antioxidant activity (105.12 mg/100g) and bacterial viability (8.23 log CFU/g) by increasing Japanese loquat pulps. However, these parameters decreased by extending the storage time (<em>p </em>< 0.05). Increases in pulp and storage time significantly increased folates of various samples (<em>p </em>< 0.05).<br> <strong>Conclusions: </strong>The highest functional capacities of the probiotic ice creams belonged to a mixture of <em>Bifidobacterium bifidum</em>, <em>Bifidobacterium lactis</em> and 30% of Japanese loquat pulps. Probiotic, Folat, Phenolic compound, Survival rate 49 56 http://nfsr.sbmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-555-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Elham sadat Entezari sareshkeh entezari@yahoo.com 10031947532846005573 10031947532846005573 No Department of Food Science and Technology Marjan Nouri M.nouri@riau.ac.ir 10031947532846005574 10031947532846005574 Yes Department of Food Science and Technology