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Estimating the maximum specific growth rate from microbial growth curves : definition is everything

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journal contribution
posted on 2008-07-11, 12:55 authored by Stefano Perni, Peter W. Andrew, Gilbert Shama
The maximum specific growth rate (μmax) is an important parameter in modelling microbial growth under batch conditions. However, there are two definitions of this growth parameter in current use and some of the comparisons of data made in the literature fail to acknowledge this important fact. We compared values of μmax obtained by applying the Gompertz, logistics and Baranyi-Roberts models to experimental data on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria innocua using both absorbance and viable counts measurements of cell concentration. All three models fitted the experimental data well, however, the values of μmax obtained using the Gompertz and logistic models were similar to each other but substantially different from that predicted by the Baranyi-Roberts model. The latter growth model was used to derive a second estimate of μmax based on the slope at the inflection point of the growth curve function; this value was in closer agreement with those obtained using the Gompertz or logistic models. Conditions were identified when values of μmax based on different definitions would converge towards one another.

History

School

  • Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering

Department

  • Chemical Engineering

Citation

SHAMA, G., 2005. Estimating the maximum specific growth rate from microbial growth curves : definition is everything. Food microbiology, 22(6), pp. 491-495

Publisher

© Elsevier

Publication date

2005

Notes

This is a journal article. It was published in the journal, Food microbiology [© Elsevier] and the definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07400020 or doi:10.1016/j.fm.2004.11.014

ISSN

0740-0020

Language

  • en

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