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Haematococcus pluvialis was modified for higher astaxanthin production compatible with the superiorities of high biomass and high activity by three-stage mutagenesis breeding. UV irradiation mutants named UV11-4 made an increase on cell dry weight, but showed a longer growth circle than the wild type. On the basis of UV mutants, ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) mutants E2-5 cut down the latent phase, brought forward and extended the logarithmic phase. The inhibitor diphenylamine (DPA) was employed to screen high-yield astaxanthin producer by the color change of colonies from green to red on solid medium. Via the contravariant cultivation, proliferation and transformation, the mutant DPA12-2 possessed an 1.7-fold astaxanthin production compared to the wild type, reaching 47.21±3.30mg/g dry cells.

Fed-batch culture and the transformation conditions of Haematococcus pluvialis in a 5L photobioreactor were investigated. Methods of feeding model, low temperature at night and proper feeding time were used to increase both cell biomass and cell activity. Dry cell weight of 1.87 g/L which was 2.0-fold of batch culture and the specific growth rate of 0.43 d(-1) suggested the superduper results of these methods to increase the dry cell weight in the short cultivation time. Furthermore, mixed lights of blue and white (ratio of 3:1) at 7000 xl were used to expedite the morphologic changes of H. pluvialis from green cells to red cyst cells with the yield of 91.8±2.53 mg/L.