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EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON THE GROWTH RATE OF ERWINIA HERBICOLA.  C.M. Draper¹, J.L. Garland², and M.S. Roberts². ¹Dept. of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus and ²Life Support Group, Kennedy Space Center, FL.

   Microorganisms are an essential part of any biological system.  Therefore, development of a passive experimental microbial system (PEMS) to research microbial growth and mutation in the space environment is necessary.     The purpose of this experiment is to attain proper growth conditions for the development of a suitable method for observing the behavior of microorganisms in a space environment.  In this experiment, microbial growth is considered as a function of agar concentration, nutritive conditions, cell type, inoculation density, and temperature.  Duplicates of each variable will be tested in order to collect a satisfactory amount of data without exceeding the number of growth cells allotted.  Sixty-four growth chambers will be inoculated with a single strain of either Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Erwinia herbicola.

   Once results from the first trial are examined, the remaining 36 growth chambers will be used to improve the growth variables and the technique used to inoculate the growth chambers.

   Temperature impacts the growth capabilities of microorganisms significantly and is a necessary consideration when determining the optimal growth rate.  Microbial growth will be monitored during the course of growth by visual observation, microscopy and, at the end of the growth period, by harvesting the cells.