Question

Development of inoculum for industrial fermentation

Answer 1

The preparation of a population of microorganisms from a dormant stock culture to an active state of growth that is suitable for inoculation inthe final production stage is called inoculum development. As a first step in inoculum development, inoculumis taken from a working stock culture to initiate growth in a suitable liquid medium.Bacterial vegetative cells and spores are suspended, usually, in sterile tap water, which is then added to thebroth. In case of nonsporulating fungi and actinomycetes the hyphae are fragmented and then transferredto the broth.Inoculum development is generally done using flask cultures; flasks of 50 ml to 12 litres may be used andtheir number can be increased as per need. Where needed, small fermenters may be used.Inoculum development is usually done in a stepwise sequence to increase the volume to the desired level.At each step, inoculum is used at 0.5-5% of the medium volume; this allows a 20-200-fold increase ininoculum volume at each step. Typically, the inoculum used for production stage is about 5% of themedium volume

I hope this help you