Effect of sugar-feeding strategies on astaxanthin production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous</Emphasis>

Summary Astaxanthin, a main carotenoid pigment, has a strong antioxidant activity. The effects of sugar-feeding strategies on astaxanthin production by Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous fed-batch fermentation were studied. Sugar was added instantaneously to a 30 l fermentor at various discrete time instants (pulse-feeding), or continuously to the fermentor to maintain the constant sugar concentration. Pulse-feeding experiments were initiated with sugar concentrations from 30 to 50 g/l, and then one, two, three and four feedings were made. The results showed that optimal sugar feeding depended on feeding time and pulse sugar feeding was the best among all experiments, in which a significant increase (54.9%) in production of astaxanthin was achieved at 132 h in a pulse fed-batch process compared with a batch process.