This work reported for the first time the detailed impacts of cultivation period on growth dynamics and biochemical composition of a microalga strain Nannochloropsis gaditana 1049. The results shown either the biomass accumulation, lipid content, neutral lipid content, monounsaturated fatty acids composition or the favorable fatty acid profile of C16-C18 increased along with the cultivation period extension, but the lipid productivity displayed a decrease since cultured for 16 days, with the highest value reached 289.51 +/- 16.34 mg L-1 d(-1). Biodiesel properties of this microalga also changed with the cultivation period extension, with average unsaturated degree decreased from 1.24 +/- 0.03 to 0.59 +/- 0.02, cloud point increased from 3.39 +/- 0.40 degrees C to 12.14 +/- 0.32 degrees C, cetane number increased from 54.59 +/- 0.20 to 58.96 +/- 0.16 and iodine number reduced sharply from 105.15 +/- 2.24 gI(2)/100 g to 56.44 +/- 1.76 gI(2)/100 g, which all satisfied the specifications of biodiesel standard. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).