A new control strategy by manipulating antioxidant capacity was proposed.
Ascorbic acid enhances cellular antioxidant capacity to resist oxidative injury.
ROS decreased by 35.5% and T-AOC kept above zero until the end of fermentation.
Ascorbic acid increased PUFA content with specificity improvement in DHA content.
DHA yield was increased by 44% by two-point ascorbic acid addition strategy.