Utilization of sucrose as a carbon source for the production of chemicals is uneconomical. Beet molasses is a readily available and low-priced substitute. The article “Optimization of the Production of -Carotene from Molasses by Blakeslea Trispora (J. of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 2002:

933–943) carried out a multiple regression analysis to relate the dependent variable y
amount of -carotene (g/dm3

) to the three predictors amount of lineolic acid, amount of kerosene, and amount of antioxidant (all g/dm3

).