shows that at initial time (0 h), the total cell count
correspond to the vegetative cell count (2 104 cfu/ml). After 1 h,
the specific growth rate of strain LTIS27 was 0.36/h. Spores absent
in the starting inoculums appeared after 24 h. As incubation time
increased, spore and total cell counts increased. In fact, the rise in
spore number from 8 h to that of 24 h growth was consistent with
the sporulation of vegetative cells at the end of the exponential
growth phase, while the increase in the total cell number was due