A procedure for large-scale production of astaxanthin from Haematococcus

A process for cultivating Haematococcus for the large scale production of astaxanthin-enriched Haematococcus cells comprises: (a) cultivating said Haematococcus cells under conditions suitable for optimal vegetative growth of said cells, wherein said conditions comprise growing the cells under a light intensity in the range of about 30-140 μmol photons.m^-2.S^-1 and at a temperature of between about 15-28° C.; and (b) collecting the cells grown according to (a) and cultivating them further under conditions suitable for optimal induction and accumulation of astaxanthin in said cells, wherein said conditions comprise inoculating said cells of (a) into a growth solution containing essentially a carbon source and growing said cells at a temperature of below 35° C.