Study on the production of orange /yellow pigments and their color tone in submerged fermentation of Monascus

In this study, 10 Monascus strains with yellow colony color were primarily screened from a large number of strains for pigments production.Using the method of wavelength scanning, the pigment extracts of the 10 strains by shaking flask fermentation was analyzed and the characteristics of the pigments were explored.The absorption peaks and corresponding OD of pigment extracts were obtained to calculate the color value and tone. By controlling the fermentation conditions, the main pigments in fermented liquid of the 10 Monascus strains were yellow, orange or mixture of yellow and orange, but no red pigment.The Monascus sp.961 with high yellow pigment producing capacity and Monascus sp. W1 with high orange pigment producing capacity were obtained, with the color value up to 200 U /mL and 436 U /mL, respectively.In addition, the types of the pigments produced by the two Monascus stains were further identified according to TLC separation.This study lay the foundation for the production, development and application of Monascus yellow and orange pigments in large-scale fermentation.