With the objective of determining the kinetic behavior (growth, substrate, pH, and carotenoid production) and obtain the stoichiometric parameters of the fermentative process by Sporidiobolus salmonicolor in synthetic and agroindustrial media, fermentations were carried out in shaken flasks at 25 degrees C, 180 rpm, and initial pH of 4.0 for 120 h in the dark, sampling every 6 h. The maximum concentrations of total carotenoids in synthetic (913 microg/L) and agroindustrial (502 microg/L) media were attained approximately 100 h after the start of the fermentative process. Carotenoid bioproduction is associated with cell growth and the ratio between carotenoid production and cell growth (Y (P/X)) is 176 and 163 microg/g in the synthetic and agroindustrial media, respectively. The pH of the agroindustrial fermentation medium varied from 4.2 to 8.5 during the fermentation. The specific growth rate (micro (X)) for S. salmonicolor in synthetic and agroindustrial media was 0.07 and 0.04 h(-1), respectively. The synthetic medium allowed for greater productivity, obtaining maximum cell productivity (P (x)) of 0.08 g L(-1) h(-1) and maximum total carotenoid productivity (P (car)) of 14.2 microg L(-1) h(-1). Knowledge of the kinetics of a fermentative process is of extreme importance when transposing a laboratory experiment to an industrial scale, as well as making a quantitative comparison between different culture conditions.