SURFACE GROWTH OF GEOTRICHUM CANDIDUM: EFFECT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON ITS DYNAMICS

Abstract

 The growth dynamics of Geotrichum candidum was studied on the surface of the skim milk agar with respect to the temperature, pH and water activity/NaCl content. At pH ranging from 5.0 to 7.0, the fungus growth rates were similar, whereas the temperature and water activity represented by salt addition in concentration of 3 % influenced the growth significantly. The effect of incubation temperature on the surface growth rate was modelled with G-Twmodel. Designed model proved to be good predictor of fungus growth at used environmental conditions. As the filamentous fungus under study is commonly present on the surface of various cheeses, the quantitative data found in this work can provide useful information closely related to real fungus growth, e.g. calculation of time required for G. candidum to reach visible 3 mm colony. The predictions showed that, for example at 0 % NaCl content, such colonies were grown for 52.2, 30.7, 18.4, 14.4, 13.9 hat temperatures of 10, 14, 19, 23, 27 °C, respectively.doi:10.5219/109 

Keywords

• Geotrichum candidum
• temperature
• pH
• water activity
• G-model