Effects of Culture Conditions on Production of Red Pigment and Citrinin by Fermentation of Monascus Ruber

Abstract

Effects of carbon source, nitrogen source, and pH value and culture volume on red pigment and citrinin production by fermentation of Monascus ruber were investigated in this study. In order to improve the yield of red pigment and to reduce the production of citrinin, the four factors and three levels orthogonal experiment was used in this experiment. Results indicated that carbon source, nitrogen source, pH value and culture volume influenced the production of pigment and citrinin significantly, and the red pigment with highest value was obtained at 30 g/L corn flour, 2 g/L NH₄Cl, pH 4.0 and 100 ml/250ml culture volume, which also without citrinin. The results of the experiments will be helpful to the production of safe pigment, and will improve the usage of pigment in food industry.