Modeling the cucumber fermentation: Growth ofLactobacillus plantarum

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Abstract
Specific growth rate models of product-inhibited cell growth exist but are rarely applied to fermentations beyond ethanol and large-scale antibiotic production. The present paper summarizes experimental data and the development of a model for growth of the commercially important bacterium,Lactobacillus plantarum, in cucumber juice. The model provides an excellent correlation of data for the influence on bacterial growth rate of NaCl, protons (H+), and the neutral, inhibitory forms of acetic acid and the fermentation product, lactic acid. The effects of each of the variables are first modeled separately using established functional forms and then combined in the final model formulation.