Modelling and optimizing the growth of an agricultural biocatalyst in commercial planting medium

Optimization of environmental and nutritional conditions is essential when formulating commercial microbial products. In the present study, we utilized multivariable regression to develop mathematical models describing the growth of several BiOWiSH® bacterial mixtures in generic, high-nutrient environments. Independent variables included bacterial titer, temperature, carbon availability and nitrogen availability, while change in absorbance at OD₆₀₀ was the dependent variable. Equations were produced for each commercial product which accurately rank-ordered environmental and nutritional conditions in terms of their ability to support robust bacterial growth. While these equations are useful for identifying maxima and minima in vitro, further studies are needed to determine whether this type of modelling produces accurate interpolations for the activity of BiOWiSH® products in the field.