What this work is about, in plain words
How can growth rate and productivity be correctly calculated from the growth curve of a batch culture? The authors showed a simple way using the alga Dunaliella salina.
To compare cultures, researchers usually calculate the specific growth rate with a simple formula. But this formula is valid only for the stage of accelerating (exponential) growth. It is also applied to other stages, which leads to errors in forecasts and in the choice of growth regimes. The authors set out to propose a simple and well-founded way of calculating the main characteristics of the growth curve.
Based on the simplest growth models, the growth curve of the green alga Dunaliella salina was analyzed. Separate formulas were used for each growth stage.
According to the authors, this makes it possible to calculate the maximum specific growth rate, productivity and respiration rate of the culture. The method is approximate but convenient for comparing different growth curves. The more measurements at each stage, the more accurate the result. At the boundaries between stages, measurement errors may produce kinks, but they are incomparably smaller than the errors from misapplying the usual formula.
The work gives researchers a simple standard for comparing experiments.
Limitations. This is a theoretical work with an example on one culture. The method is approximate.