In the present study, well characterized Streptomyces showed good growth and melanin pigment production on wheat bran than in rice bran medium. 220 and 198 mg of crude pigment was extracted per 10 gm of wheat bran and rice bran substrate. Further large scale production [100 gm] was carried out in wheat bran medium and extracted using ethyl acetate. Among the various solvent systems tested, the n-hexane: chloroform (50:50) was found to have promising separation with three spots with Rf values 0.3, 0.6 and 0.8.The pigment was present in the middle spot with Rf value 0.6. Of the three TLC spots tested for antioxidant activity, the second spot, the melanin portion showed
antioxidant activity. The main character of an antioxidant is ability to trap the free radicals which can initiate degenerative disease. In the current study, the melanin pigment obtained from Streptomyces species inhibited peroxide formation in linoleic acid for 7days, when a control without any standard antioxidants produced peroxide within 24 hours. It indicated the antioxidant property ofmelanin pigment produced from given strain of Streptomyces This study was similar to that of the optical density of standard antioxidant such as trolox as reported by Xu et al.