Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Mustard meal after seed-oil expellation was used as a substrate for growth of Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous and production of astaxanthin. The mustard meal media that provided both sugar and nitrogen sources were prepared by boiling in water (un-hydrolyzed mustard meal media) and hydrolyzing in acid (hydrolyzed mustard meal media). The red yeast X. dendrorhous grew best in the un-hydrolyzed mustard meal media and produced commercially valuable carotenoid pigments, especially astaxanthin. The maximum yield of cell dry weight (6.25 g/L), total carotenoid (4.17 mg/L) and astaxanthin (3.83 mg/L) were obtained with optimal process parameters of 20% un-hydrolyzed mustard meal media, an initial pH of medium at 5.0, an incubation temperature of 20C and a cultivation time of 120 h.