Growth and Decay of a Planktonic Microbial Culture

Figure 7

Evolution of an E. coli culture in feta cheese at 15°C and starting pH 6.75 [18]. The fitting curve (growth-steady-decay overall fit; point line) corresponds to equation (11). Log₁₀ (N_max/CFU·g⁻¹) = 9.3; γ = 8.7 h², d = 2.75 10⁵h², b = 0.11, and δ = 2. The figure also shows the growth and the decay contributions. Because of the large time span covered by the data, the variable t is in log₁₀ scale.