covered, and followed by this, it grows thicker. Hence, the upper-most layer is always considered to be the newest. Table 3 shows the amount of bacterial cellulose produced in cultures with different volumes and surface areas and accordingly, bacterial cellulose production increased with an increase of surface area. As the metabolic processes of tea fungus depend on fresh air it is very important that care is taken to ensure a sufficient supply of oxygen.
Results in Table 3 clearly showed that the 1500 ml round container with the greatest surface area (227.0 cm2) produced highest bacterial cellulose (104.8 g/l). Followed by this, was the 700 ml rectangular container with a surface area of 130.5 cm2, which generated 66.9 g/l of bacterial cellulose. The 1000 ml measuring cylinder with a surface area of 29.2 cm2 yielded only 21.3 g/l of bacterial cellulose. Thus, surface area played a more significant role in the formation of bacterial cellulose than did the volume of the culture medium. Masaoka et al. (1993) also proposed that the culture volume does not influence bacterial cellulose production; they also reported that a continuous bacterial cellulose layer fails to form in a vessel with a tapered wall, such as a conical flask