The photosynthetic microalga Haematococcus pluvialis, a potential source of astaxanthin, was cultivated under illumination with LEDs emitting red (λmax= 625 nm), green (λmax= 525 nm), blue (λmax= 470 nm), blue-purple (λmax= 410 nm) and purple (λmax= 380 nm) light and a fluorescent lamp, and the effects of wavelength on cell growth and astaxanthin accumulation were studied. LEDs emitting light of short wavelengths (380 -470 nm) were found to induce astaxanthin accumulation of up to 5 -6% per dry-cell, although the induction caused the suppression of cell growth. From these results, we proposed a new strategy of cultivating H. pluvialis under illumination with red LEDs without inducing a high level of astaxanthin accumulation, and then switching to illumination with blue LEDs at a high light intensity to induce a high level of astaxanthin accumulation.

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