Bacterial growth

Bacterial growth is a phenomenon of multiplication of bacterial cell into 2,4,8 and many daughter cells that occurs mostly by binary fusion. Cell division involved is mostly amitosis so daughter cells are genetically identical to the parent cell. Multiplication finally results into a bacterial population which shows an exponential growth. Thus bacterial growth occurs

Batch culture is the most common technique used to grow or culture microorganisms including bacteria. Here a limited amount of growth nutrients is supplied to the microorganisms, when it is used up the culture declines. The microorganism increases in biomass and it is then harvested from the culture

Phases of bacterial growth

Bacterial growth is a complex phenomenon that includes many stages including the cell division in batch culture, the growth of bacteria completes in four phases- Lag phase, log phase (exponential phase), stationary phase and death phase.
a) Lag phase: It is the phase that can last for an hour to several days. Bacteria get adapted During the lag phase, synthesis of RNA, proteins, enzymes, and other molecules takes place The cells get matured but do not divide.
b) Log phase: This phase is characterized by doubling of cells by repeated cell division finally to form a bacterial population. Hence it is also called exponential or logarithmic phase. The exponential growth is disrupted when the bacterial medium gets depleted by the nutrients because the bacteria stop to divide.
c) Stationary phase: It is the phase in growth of bacteria when the growth rate equals to the death rate. It is because the depletion of the nutrients in the medium is followed by decrease. In number of new cells because cell division has already stopped and started dying as a result the growth rate matches the death rate.
d) Death phase: During death phase also called decline phase, nutrients in the medium re completely lacking and all cells die