Enhanced stability of C-phycocyanin colorant by extrusion encapsulation

C-phycocyanin (C-PC) a blue color phycobiliproteins used as a food colorant, therapeutics, medicines, health food and biomarkers. In the present study, morphological property of encapsulated C-PC and its stability under various conditions like temperature, pH conditions are discussed. Microencapsulated droplets formed by extrusion found to be spherical with average size 1.2 ± 0.1 mm. SEM micrographs of freeze dried encapsulate confirmed the spherical shape. The effect of droplet formation with varying alginate percentage (1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% w/v) was studied. In the stability test at 70 °C and 80 °C relative concentration (C_R  %) was found to be 86.89 and 88.19%, respectively. The encapsulated C-PC showed a slow degradation at higher temperature compared to without encapsulated C-PC which was confirmed by UV-visible absorbance. At 45 °C and 55 °C temperatures the stability was studied at various pH conditions (pH 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, and 7.0) and reported. Aggregation of C-PC protein will not change during encapsulation was confirmed by SDS-PAGE. FTIR analysis of encapsulate and the alginate depicted similar characteristics of the compound compared to that of native C-phycocyanin colorant. Microencapsulation improves the stability and increases the shelf life of colorant.