Production of β-Carotene-Enriched Biomass by Neurospora Intermedia using Solid State Fermentation of Bread Waste

Abstract

ß-carotene is one of the major carotenoids in industries, which is mainly synthetically manufactured. Due to its extensive use in human consumption, natural origin of ß-carotene is in high demand. Neurospora intermedia, is a filamentous fungus that has the potential to produce ß-carotene, it is normally associated for its ability to grow on many kinds of substrate. With regards to the global food waste, production of ß-carotene from N. intermedia using bread waste is of interest in this study. The objective of the study was to investigate the optimum fermentation condition for N. intermedia in producing ß-carotene under solid state fermentation of bread waste. The process parameters such as moisture content, inoculum source and pre-treatments, pH and hydrogen peroxide were carried out. A solid state fermentation in petri dishes was developed for 6 days in which the ß-carotene production were extracted using the combination of ethanol and ethyl acetate and the concentration was measured with spectrophotometer at 466 nm. The cultivation of N. intermedia in bread waste resulted in optimum concentration of 1.09 mg ß-carotene/g dry biomass-substrate with 40% moisture content, 0.819 mg ß-carotene/g dry biomass-substrate with washed fungal biomass inoculum, 0.77 mg ß-carotene/g dry biomass-substrate with pH 3.5, and 1.01 mg ß-carotene/g dry biomass-substrate with hydrogen peroxide at 15 mM concentration. Therefore, this study provides fundamental information for the potential of ß-carotene production using solid state fermentation of N. intermedia with bread waste.