Glucosamine measurement as indirect method for biomass estimation of Cunninghamella elegans grown in solid state cultivation conditions

Glucosamine measurement has been tested as the indirect method to estimate the biomass produced by Cunninghamella elegans during solid state cultivati on (SSC). The independence of this cell constituent content from the age an d the conditions of the culture have been verified. The influence of the me dium composition, in particular the nature of the carbon source on glucosam ine amount is presented. Glucosamine can be considered as a well-adapted bi omass indicator, with the necessity to establish for each medium tested a p rior correlation between biomass and glucosamine amount. This correlation s hould be defined in submerged conditions before applying the biomass estima ting method in SSC. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.