Effect of pretreatments on extraction of pigment from marigold flower.

Marigold flower (Tagetes erecta L) is one of the richest sources of xanthophylls. An enzymatic pretreatment method was developed for improved extraction of pigments from marigold flowers. Pretreatment with enzyme solution increased the diffusion coefficient from 1.56 x 10(-9) m(2)/s to 4.02 x 10(-9) m(2)/s and mass transfer coefficient from 0.14 h(-1) to 0.36 h(-1) coefficients. At the same time, dry yield, resin yield and pigment yield were also found to increase along with increased retention of colour. Sodium hydroxide or citric acid pretreatments increased the diffusion coefficient during drying, but resulted in lower dry yield due to loss of soluble compounds whereas, pigment yield was higher as compared to control. The enzyme treated and air dried sample, stored at 4 °C was found to be the most stable, as indicated by a low (0.0006 day(-1)) degradation constant. Pretreatment of marigold flowers with an aqueous enzyme solution (0.2%) results in improved resin, pigment yield and retention of pigment during storage. Pretreatment of marigold flowers with sodium hydroxide citric acid followed by hydraulic pressing resulted in a significant reduction of water and also indicated improved dry yield, resin yield and pigment yield as compared to control sample.