Abstract: The main purpose of this research was to study the effects of encapsulation, physicochemical properties and gastrointestinal performance of Lactobacillus plantarum microcapsules, which were prepared via the sharp-hole coagulation technique using arabinoxylan and sodium alginate as wall materials and Lactobacillus plantarum as a core material, respectively. The encapsulation yield was 73.60%±0.01%, the embedding efficiency was 81.27%±0.17% and the effective load was (3.68±0.4)×10¹¹ cfu/g. Furthermore, The angle of repose was (35.25±4.35)°, the moisture content was 8.82%±0.01% and the density was (0.25±0.01) g/cm³. The SEM images clearly showed the complete and compact surface structure of the microcapsules, therefore, it had a good protective effect on Lactobacillus plantarum. The results obtained from gastrointestinal simulation indicated that the microcapsules had low acid solubility and high intestinal solubility. The acid resistance test showed a decrease in the number of bacteria loaded in microcapsules by only 1.2lg (cfu/mL) whereas bacterial suspension decreased by 6.4lg (cfu/mL). The intestinal release test showed that the microcapsules were completely released after 1 h. The number of bacteria loaded in microcapsules decreased by only 0.55lg (cfu/mL) whereas the bacterial suspension decreased by 5.6lg (cfu/mL) for the continuous gastrointestinal tests. Additionally, the microcapsules were stored at -20, 4 and 28℃ for 7 weeks, respectively. The number of bacteria decreased by 1.2lg, 1.7lg and 5.2lg (cfu/mL), which indicated that low temperature storage was more beneficial for the preservation of Lactobacillus plantarum. In summary, the microcapsule had a good encapsulation effect on Lactobacillus plantarum and could provide sufficient protection for it.