Bio-utilization of fruits and vegetables waste to produce β-carotene in solid-state fermentation: Characterization and antioxidant activity

Fruits and vegetable processing industries produce huge waste in the form of peels, seeds, liquid, and molasses which are a good source of carbohydrates, proteins, fibres, vitamins, and minerals. This waste can be utilized for the production of biocolors using fermentation. Utilization of this waste not only valorizes waste disposal problems but also eliminate environmental pollution. The aim of the present work was to extract and optimize environmental factors for production of β-carotene from fruits and vegetable waste (orange, carrot, and papaya peels) using microbial strain Blakeslea trispora (+) MTCC 884 in solid state fermentation. It was observed that the production of β-carotene was significantly influenced by varying all factors and gave a maximum yield of 0.127 mg/mL. Characterization of the extracted color was done with techniques like HPLC, LCMS, FTIR and Mass Spectroscopy. Mass spectroscopy of extracted color represented the m/z value 537.608 and LCMS analysis gave the eluted peaks at (Rt 13.37), which confirmed the presence of β-carotene. Furthermore, β-carotene percentage estimated by HPLC and LCMS was over 76% suggesting that these fruits and vegetable wastes may be used for the production of β-carotene with high purity and gave good antioxidant properties as determined by DPPH and ABTS.