Agri-food wastes as an efficient substrate for the pigmented yeast cultuvation

Abstract

Agri-food wastes represent an increasingly acute global problem, with approximately one billion tons generated worldwide each year. In addition to the high costs associated with its management, it also creates serious environmental problems. At the same time, agri-food wastes are a sustainable source of various substances with biological activity and nutritional value, which can be used in animal feed or as a substrate for the production of value-added products. In this context, the utilization of agri-food wastes in various biotechnological processes, as a nutrient substrate for the cultivation of microorganisms and the synthesis of biologically active substances, is a promising research direction. Yeasts are considered excellent producers of biologically active compounds because they are characterized by a high rate of biomass accumulation, the ability to metabolize a wide range of carbon sources, resistance to contamination by foreign microflora, and the capacity to grow on relatively inexpensive nutrient media, including by-products from the agricultural and food industries. This significantly reduces the production costs of biologically active substances. The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of liquid nutrient media based on carrot and/or celery wastes on the synthesis of exometabolites in the culture liquid of the R. gracilis CNMN-YS-03 and R. mucilaginosa CNMN-YS-10 pigmented yeast strains.