Background: The viability of the probiotics reduces because of the high acid and bile salt concentrations present in the stomach. Probiotic cultures can be protected during processing, storage and passage of the probiotic product through the gastrointestinal tract by the technique of microencapsulation. Objective: In the present study Exopolysaccharides (EPS)and sodium alginate are incorporated in different ratio to form the encapsulation matrix .They have also been checked for improving the viability of lactic acid bacteria in stimulated GI conditions. Method: EPS were isolated from a reference strain of L.acidophillus and the two strains P8 and Cu3isolated from pumpkin and cucumber.Microencapsulated beads were formed using different combination of EPS and sodium alginate and were analysed in terms of viability, bile tolerance, acid tolerance, survival in gastrointestinal conditions, and antibiotic susceptibility conditions. Results: The results indicated that the increasing concentration of EPS has significantly increased the survival of microencapsulated probiotic in simulated gastro-intestinal condition. The treatment T4 was found to be the best for all the tested conditions. Conclusion: This study has shown the potential application of EPS in microencapsulation to protect probiotics against the adverse condition of gastrointestinal tract.

This study aims to isolate cellulose and lignin degrading microorganisms which are capable of degrading lignocellulosic biomass in an ecofriendly nature. A total of 160 cultures were isolated and screened for their cellulolytic, ligninolytic activity. Those cultures were forwarded for lignocellulolytic enzyme assays. Among the bacterial isolate, TER3 showed the maximum number of enzyme activity in cellulase, PPO and laccase (6.024 U/ml, 0.963 U/ml and 0.215 U/ml respectively). E-PW1 isolates were observed, to the production of PPO (0.237 U/ml), MnP (0.007 U/ml) and LiP (0.242 U/ml). E-MUS1 isolate also showed good activity in cellulase (2.875 U/ml), LiP (0.240 U/ml) production. In the case of fungal isolates TER1 exhibited the highest activity in PPO (2.468 U/ml), laccase (0.053 U/ml) and LiP (0.244 U/ml) production, COM3 isolate recorded activity of 0.490 U/ml in PPO and 0.240 U/ml in LiP followed by E-PST3 (0.013U/ml in laccase, 0.203U/ml in LiP). In Actinobacterial culture CP4 showed higher activity in cellulase production (5.140 U/ml), laccase (0.124 U/ml) production, E-PST4 showed 0.008 U/ml in laccase, 0.149U/ml in LiP production and COM2 in cellulase (2.66U/ml). Selection of cultures were undertaken based on the number of enzymes produced. The selected 9 cultures were considered as the best lignocellulose degrading microorganism that could produce all the desired enzymes for effective degradation of lignocellulosic biomass.