Screening and Identifying a High Pigment-producing Monacus Strain, and Optimizing Its Liquid Fermentation

The Monascus strain, L03, was isolated from the red kojic rice samples collected from Yongchun, Anxi, Gutian, Nanping, Sanming, and Longyan in Fujian for its high red-pigment-producing ability. Based on the morphology and molecular biology of L03, it was identified to be M. purpureus. Subsequently, single factor and orthogonal experiments were conducted to optimize the conditions for the liquid fermentation of the yeast. Color of the fermented suspension reached 1,578 U/mL when the yeast was inoculated 6% by weight into a liquid medium consisting of 8% of glycerol, 1.5% of peptone, 0.1% of Mg2SO4, and 0.25% of KH2PO4 in a loading volume of 100 mL/250 mL and incubated at 32℃ with constant agitation at the speed of 180 rpm for 9 days.