Use of chicken feather protein hydrolysate in pigment production by Monascus purpureus

Monascus purpureus is one of the most widely used fungal species in production of pigments which have specific importance for food industry. Carbon and nitrogen sources influence pigment production in this fungus, and peptones are accepted as one of the most promising nitrogen sources. The present study was performed to generate peptone (CFP) from waste chicken feathers, and use the obtained peptone as substrate in pigment (red, yellow and orange pigments) production from M. purpureus. During the pepton production from the feathers, hydrolysis and neutralization steps were performed using KOH and H2SO4, respectively. Optimal concentrations of CFP and glucose for pigment production was found to be 3 and 20 g/L, respectively. A medium pH of 5,5 was determined as more favorable for pigment production. The optimal incubation time was found as 7 days. In all of peptone media, yellow pigment was produced more than red and orange pigments. Similar absorbances for yellow pigment were obtained on test peptones, while CFP and fish peptone (FP) for red and orange pigments provided higher absorbances than protease peptone (PP). The similar results for sugar consumption and biomass production were attained in CFP, FP and PP media. This study demonstrated that the peptone from chicken feathers was a good nutritional substrate for pigment production from M. purpureus.