Effect of glycerol as a sole carbon source on Monascus sp. for pigment production

In the field of natural pigment production, Monascus sp. is a well known name. These pigments have their applicability as food colorants. In this study, two Monascus sp. namely Monascus purpureus procured from MTCC, Chandigarh, India and Monascus sanguineus isolated inhouse, were compared for pigment production in submerged fermentation. Glycerol was used as sole carbon source and malt extract as sole nitrogen source in synthetic defined media. These media were optimized by employing factorial design and response surface techniques. It was observed from the study that Monascus purpureus was able to grow on these media but pigment yield was less compared to Monascus sanguineus. The maximum value of pigment yield was observed around 9.2 CVU/mL with glycerol concentration of 36.96 g/L and malt extract concentration of 8 g/L for M. purpureus. For the isolated culture, this value was observed as 26.98 CVU/mL at 8 g/L of malt extract concentration and 64 g/L of glycerol concentration with both the variables showing the impact. The biomass also showed similar trend with both the strains.