Abstract:In order to investigate the feasibility of Pleurotus cornucopiae stembase as a substrate for producing natural red pigment through the liquid fermentation, we evaluated the effects of P. cornucopiae stembase on mycelium growth and pigment yield of Monascus purpureous MR02 through measuring the colony diameter, mycelium biomass and pigment values during plate culture and liquid fermentation. The results showed that general medium supplemented with the P. cornucopiae stembase powder can promote the mycelium growth and pigment production of M. purpureous MR02; through the cultivation of the P. cornucopiae stembase and rice powder as substrate, a certain amount of mycelium biomass and red pigment was tested in the fermentation broth of only P. cornucopiae stembase as a substrate; and culvivated by P. cornucopiae stembase as a substrate, we found that the growth curves of M. purpureous MR02 were in accordance with the growth curves of multi-cellular microorganism; through the cultures of M. purpureous MR02 under different concentrations of P. cornucopiae stembase as the substrate, mycelium biomass of 5.52 g/L and pigment values of 72.92 U/mL were obtained during the liquid fermentation of 144 h and 216 h by using 12% of P. cornucopiae stembase, respectively. Therefore, it is feasible to exploit the P. cornucopiae stembase as a substrate for producing natural red pigment by M. purpureous MR02.
