title: Model for combined effect of temperature and salt concentration/water activity on the growth rate of Staphylococcus xylosus.
abstract: The combined effect of temperature and NaCl concentration/water activity on the growth rate of a strain of halotolerant Staphylococcus is described by the square-root models which had been used previously to model temperature dependence only. The model square root r = b(T-T min) is shown to be a special case of the Bĕlehrádek temperature function which is given by r = a(T-alpha)d. The constant alpha is the socalled 'biological zero' and equivalent to T min in the square-root models. This and the exponent d = 2 were unaffected by changing NaCl concentration/water activity. The Bĕlehrádek-type equations are preferable to the Arrhenius equation in that their parameters do not change with temperature. The constancy of T min allows derivation of a simple expression relating growth rate of strain CM21/3 to temperature and salt concentration/water activity within the range of linear response to temperature predicted by the square-root model.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000254:growth & development*; D013696:Temperature; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride