Estimation of pigments concentrations The concentration of Monascus
pigments was presented and estimated according to the similar method of Chinese
National Standard, GB15961-2005 and some reported articles (8,28e32). A
suspension (10 mL) of M. ruber HS.4000 cultivated on the fermentation medium
was sprayed into 5 volumes of 70% (v/v) ethyl alcohol, and shaken for 2 h on a
reciprocal shaking water bath at 200 rpm. Supernatants were obtained by
centrifugation at 7000 rpm for 15 min (8). The supernatant was collected and the
pigment production was analyzed by measuring the absorbance of the
supernatant using UVevisible spectrophotometer (Unic-2000) (8,28e31).
Monascus pigments mainly include yellow-colored, orange-colored and