The lactic acid bacteria are one of the sustainable ways of food production. As the native lactic acid bacteria (LAB) easily manipulate the substrate, helps in production of health essential probiotics with enhancing the bioavailability of the substrate. Here also, in present study, the native LAB isolates isolated from the millets and characterize them for the functional analysis for the human health association. In the present study, fermented millet-associated lactic acid bacteria were screened and characterized for their probiotic potential, safety evaluation and antimicrobial activity. A total of 33 isolates were purified as lactic acid bacteria based on colony shape and biochemical assays. However, only 13 isolates were found to be catalase-negative. Among the 13 isolates, 5 isolates exhibited optimum growth at 6.5% and 9.5% of salt concentrations, pH of 4.5 to 8.5 and 17 °C to 40 °C of the temperature. The probiotic properties of the five isolates exhibited that the survival rates in acid and bile salt concentration ranged from 56.2 to 73.7% and 55.3 to 70.3%, respectively. Similarly, the surface hydrophobicity of the isolates was 41–75%. Antibiotic assay revealed that all five isolates were resistant to Amoxicillin, Cloxacillin, and Penicillin-V. Interestingly, all the isolates except ME26 displayed susceptibility towards Penicillin (2 units) and Tetracycline (10 µg). Further, the four isolates (ME25, ME26, ME9, and ME2) had more antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus. However, only three, except ME1 and ME2, showed maximum antibacterial activity and produced more antimicrobial compounds compared to reference strain L. plantarum Pb3. The potential probiotic isolates were identified as Weisella cibaria ME9, Weisella cibaria ME26, and Weisella confusa ME25.

The interaction between fertilizer nutrients and pesticides and their impact on tomato production and quality has been insufficiently studied in tropical agricultural conditions. This research investigated four fertilizer nutrient management (FNM) approaches: major nutrients (NPK), micronutrients, farmyard manure (FYM) and traditional farmer practices (FP), alongside three herbicides—glyphosate, pendimethalin and metribuzin applied using seven methods. Results highlighted the substantial influence of FNM strategies and herbicide applications on tomato growth and yield parameters such as plant height, cluster count, fruits per plant, fruit number and yield per plant. Notably, the NPK+FYM strategy consistently yielded superior results across herbicides and application methods. Individually applied herbicides, particularly glyphosate, exhibited detrimental effects on growth and yield parameters, and the negative impact was conspicuously higher with glyphosate > metribuzin > pendimethalin than with their sequential or combined application. While herbicides decreased tomato yield across FNM practices, the reduction ranged from 1.90–10.95%, 1.79–6.75%, 1.62–6.49% and 1.40–9.10% in NPK, NPK+MN, NPK+FYM and FP treatments, respectively. Fruit quality remained unaffected by FNM practices and herbicides, except for elevated ascorbic acid content and shelf life under NPK+FYM. Herbicide residues in tomato fruits were within permissible limits (below 0.1 mg/kg for glyphosate and 0.05 mg/kg for pendimethalin and metribuzin) across treatments. This study showed that the NPK+FYM practice is the best strategy for increasing the tomato yield and quality parameters besides reducing the herbicide’s toxicity effect on tomato growth at an early stage.

The growing demand for natural and eco-friendly solutions in food quality monitoring has sparked significant interest in using natural dyes as sustainable alternatives to chemical dyes for detecting food freshness. In this study, a colorimetric indicator based on natural santalin dye was developed for real-time monitoring of spoilage in ready-to-cook (RTC) idly batter. Santalin, extracted from Pterocarpus santalinus (red sandalwood), is a stable red pigment renowned for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiinflammatory properties. The santalin dye was immobilised in a polyvinyl alcohol-methylcellulose matrix and applied to cellulose paper, creating a low-cost pH-sensitive colorimetric indicator label. The developed indicator label displayed a visible colour change from dark brown to lighter brown hues in response to increased carbon dioxide concentrations, corresponding with a decrease in pH from 5.3 to 4.0 and a rise in titratable acidity (TA) from 0.5% to 0.9 % during the spoilage of RTC idly batter. The colour changes were captured and converted into grayscale images for pixel intensity analysis using MATLAB. The results revealed a consistent decline in mean pixel intensity as fermentation and spoilage progressed, demonstrating the effectiveness of the santalin-based indicator. This novel, natural santalin dye-based indicator offers a promising alternative to synthetic indicators, addressing safety concerns such as chemical migration into food. It can thus serve as an "on-package sticker" for real-time monitoring of spoilage in RTC idly batter.