Solid substrate fermentation is a technique widely used in mushroom production, where it is common to use ‘Mushroom spawn’ from cereals as a substrate for the first stage of edible mushroom production; this technique may take up to a few weeks, while submerged fermentation, which is a technique used to produce mycelium (inoculum), can be completed in a shorter time. Mycelium is the biomass of the mushroom, and it can be measured indirectly via N-acetylglucosamine analysis. In this research, Monascus purpureus was used because its most important characteristic is to produce secondary metabolites with bioactive properties, which have been used in different processes in Chinese culture. In addition, Chenopodium quinoa (quinoa), a grain with a high protein value, was used as a source of substrate. For this research, a culture medium was employed with a volume of 100 mL, a 4% substrate, and 0.01% sodium chloride, adjusted to pH 6, incubated at 30 ºC with 120 rpm agitation. Every 24 hours, one group was removed in order to analyse the concentration of N-acetyl glucosamine and the yellow, orange, and red pigments during a period of 168 hours. It was observed that the fermentation can be stopped at 120 hours (p<0.05), obtaining a production at 32.847 ± 0.977 mg/gDM of N-acetyl glucosamine and absorbances of 0.746 ± 0.012, 0.448 ± 0.015, and 0.411 ± 0.015 for the yellow, orange, and red pigments, respectively. The biomass obtained was tested as an inoculum in solid fermentation with quinoa grains, where the fungus showed an adequate development. In this research, an inoculum was obtained with good results in a short period of time, which can be used in solid fermentations at a larger scale.
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Determination of the fungal biomass via n-acetyl glucosamine analysis in the production of an inoculum of monascus purpureus using quinoa flour.
Published:
25 October 2024
by MDPI
in The 5th International Electronic Conference on Foods
session Food Microbiology
Abstract:
Keywords: Chenopodium quinoa, fermentation, biomass, pigments.