1987 Volume 20 Issue 6 Pages 557-562
Effects of size distribution of lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus bulgaricus on its growth were studied empirically by measuring time courses of population density, volume distribution function and concentrations of cell mass, substrate and acid in batch cultures. The size distribution function normalized with the average size and population density was preserved exclusively in the logarithmic phase and the stationary phase of cell mass growth. Statistical analysis further detailed the growth kinetics of L. bulgaricus, and the potentiality of size structure on population dynamics was incorporated into empirical equations.