NONEQUILIBRIUM GROWTH OF KLEBSIELLA-OZAENAE ON AGAR PLATES

Morphology and growth kinetics of the bacteria Klebsiella ozaenae on a gar surface have been investigated. Bacterial colonies grow two dimens ionally with random branches identical to nonequilibrium growth proces ses in non-living systems and generate self organization. The colony p attern is analysed and fractal dimensional is found to be 1.61 which i s in excellent agreement with the expected value of the diffusion limi ted aggregation (DLA) model. Both phenotypic and genotypic adaptation are observed under different experimental conditions. influence of cer tain vitamins, disinfectant, antibiotics and the microorganism Bacillu s subtilis on the growth behaviour of K. ozaenae has been investigated .