Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources Vol. 2(4), December 2011, pp. 421-427 Optimization of apple pomace based medium and fermentation conditions for pigment production by Sarcina sp. V K Joshi*, Devender Attri and Neerja S Rana 1 Department of Postharvest Technology, 1 Department of Basic Sciences Dr. Y.S.P. University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan-173 230, Himachal Pradesh, India Received 19 July 2010; Accepted 2 August 2011 The growth of Sarcina sp. (isolated from water) as a source of microbial pigment on apple pomace based medium was studied. 20 g/l of apple pomace gave maximum yield of biomass and carotenoids in the apple pomace based medium. The use of glucose (0.1%) in the apple pomace based medium gave the highest yield of biomass (8.897g/l) and carotenoids (12.87mg/100g). The effect of carbon and nitrogen sources on yield of biomass and carotenoids production by Sarcina sp. (isolated from water) a dark yellow colour producing bacteria was studied in apple pomace based medium. Among the different nitrogen sources tried, potassium nitrate (0.3%) gave the maximum production of biomass (12.30 g/l) and carotenoids (12.80mg/100g). Beyond 0.3% concentration however, there was decrease both in yield and carotenoids contents. Among different pH values (from 3.0 to 6.0), a pH of 5.5 was optimized whereas, a temperature of 35 o C with an incubation period of 72 h produced the highest quantity of biomass and carotenoids. Keywords: Apple pomace, Fermentation, Microbial pigments, Carotenoids, Sarcina sp. IPC code; Int. cl. (2011.01)—A61K 36/00 Introduction Colour is the most important attribute of any article especially food. Natural colours were added from the earlier times in our food, but with the increase in demand synthetic colour like coaltar dyes were developed that dominated the natural colours like turmeric. However, the synthetic colours being used in food are mutagenic, carcinogenic and cause other health related problems. Metanil yellow caused testicular damage in gametogenic elements to arrest spermatogenesis in guinea pigs, rats and mice 1 . whereas, reproductive and neurobehavioural toxicity by tartrazine in mice 2 . The toxicity of tomato red, a popular food dye blend on male swiss albino rats was determined 3 . The food dye (Apple green) was also found moderately mutagenic at high doses 4 . Besides imparting colour to the products, the natural colours have been found to possess anti-cancer activity. The presence of food colour in the human diet is being considered beneficial because of their action as pro-vitamin 5,6 , antioxidant 7 or possibly as tumour inhibiting agents 8 . In addition to plants, a number of microorganisms are also known to produce pigment, viz. and. Rhodotorula, Sarcina, Cryptococcus, Monascus purpureus, Phaffia rhodozyma, Bacillus sp. 9-11 . Thus, the food industry has become increasingly interested in the use of microbial technology to produce colours for use in foods. It can also help to overcome the growing public concern over the adverse health effects of addition of synthetic colours in various food products 12 . However, to produce the microbial pigment, the medium is too complex and requires a number of expensive chemicals 13 . There is a need to develop a suitable medium which is cheap and easy to prepare for the cultivation of pigments producing microorganisms. Apple pomace is a by-product of apple juice processing industry and its disposal creates environmental problem. It contains peel, seed and remaining solid parts and is estimated to be 20-30% of the total processed crop 14-17 . It is a rich source of carbohydrates, minerals and vitamin-C and thus, has potential to support the growth of microorganisms. In our earlier efforts, the apple pomace based media have been used to produce pigment from Rhodotorula, Micrococcus and Chromobactor sp. 10,11,18 . The food products need colour of various shades and different microorganisms have ability to produce colour of different shades. In an attempt to produce biocolour of different shades, another ___________ *Correspondent author, E-mail: vkjoshipht@rediffmail.com; Phone: 01792-252410