A description of a microbial colony grown on suitable agar usually involves the observation of its immediate surroundings. This applies to most bacteria and fungi and is of considerable taxonomic importance.

Residues from agriculture and the food industry consist of many and varied wastes, in total accounting for over 250 million tonnes of waste per year in the UK alone. Biotechnological processing of these residues would allow these waste products to be used as a resource, with tremendous potential. An extensive range of valuable and usable products can be recovered from what was previously considered waste: including fuels, feeds and pharmaceutical products. In this way Biotechnology can offer many viable alternatives to the disposal of agricultural waste, producing several new products in the process. This book presents up-to-date information on a biotechnology approach for the utilisation of agro-industrial residues, presenting chapters with detailed information on materials and bioconversion technology to obtain products of economic importance: The production of industrial products using agro-industrial residues as substrates The biotechnological potential of agro-industrial residues for bioprocesses Enzymes degrading agro-industrial residues and their production Bioconversion of agro-industrial residues. Written by experts in Biotechnological processing of Agro-Industrial Residues, this book will provide useful information for academic researchers and industry scientists working in biotechnology, waste management, agriculture and the food industry.

Environmental concerns regarding continuous use of synthetic dyes saw a revival in the demand for natural dyes as natural dyes exhibit better biodegradability and generally have a higher compatibility with the environment. However, one of the limitations on the use of natural dyes or pigments is the low extraction yield factors (a few grams of pigment per kg of dried raw material). Therefore, the exploitation of other biological sources such as fungi, bacteria and cell cultures offers interesting alternative. Microbial pigments such as from bacterial origins offer the advantage in terms of production compared to pigments extracted from vegetables or animals, due to its simple cell and fast culturing technique. This book offers interesting insight into initial works carried out to demonstrate the potential use of bacterial pigment as colorant for various applications.

Recent technological advances have provided unique opportunities for the exploration of alternatives to the industrial use of chemically produced synthetic colors. The most promising developments in this area have been in bio-pigmentation derived from microorganisms. This groundbreaking book reviews the current state of the science of bio-pigmentation, providing important insights into the molecular mechanisms of microbial biosynthesis of industrial pigments. Featuring contributions by leading researchers from both industry and academe, it explores the latest advances in the use of bio-pigments as safe, sustainable alternatives to chemically synthesized pigments, and provides extensive coverage the most promising sources of bio-pigments within the food, feed, and pharmaceutical industries. • Proposes microbial uniqueness of coloration in variety of food, feed and pharmaceuticals • Covers the basic science behind bio-pigmentation as well as the latest advances in the field • Describes detection strategies for screening and identifying color producing microorganisms under varying environmental conditions • Provides an exhaustive review of the literature on color producing extremophiles and offers fascinating insights into color production as a stress response in extremophiles • Explores microbial molecular mechanisms of color production, with special coverage of color production as secondary metabolites under environmental stress Bio-pigmentation and Biotechnological Implementations is required reading for professionals and post-doctoral students of microbiology, applied microbiology, food microbiology, food science, and food biochemistry. It is a valuable working resource for scientists working in color-dependent food, feed, and pharmaceuticals.

Over the period of last two decades, there has been significant resurgence in solid-state fermentation due to the numerous benefits it offers, especially in the engineering and environmental aspects. SSF has shown much promise in the development of several bioprocesses and products. This resurgence gained further momentum during the last 5-6 years with the developments in fundamental and applied aspects. A good deal of information has been generated in published literature and patented information. Several commercial ventures have come up based on SSF in different parts of the world. The contents are organized into four parts: Part 1 deals with the General and Fundamentals aspects of SSF; Part 2 deals with the production of bulk chemicals and products such as enzymes, organic acids, spores and mushrooms in SSF; Part 3 is on the use of SSF for specialty chemicals such as gibberellic acid, antibiotics and other pharmaceutically valuable secondary metabolites, pigments, and aroma compounds; Part 4 deals with the use of SSF miscellaneous application such as SSF for food and feed applications, agro-industrial residues as substrates in SSF and the production of silage and vermicompost.