Salmonella isolates were surveyed for their growth kinetics in a laboratory medium for the purpose of identifying isolates suitable for modeling experiments. In addition, the effect of holding stationary phase Salmonella cultures at different temperatures on their subsequent growth kinetics was evaluated for the purpose of developing a protocol to prevent the need for midnight sampling in modeling experiments. In Experiment 1, 16 isolates of Salmonella, 2 from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and 14 from broiler operations, were surveyed for their growth kinetics in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth at 40°C. Lag time (P = 0.005) and growth rate (P = 0.022) were affected by identity of the isolate. Lag time ranged from 0.73 to 1.38 h, whereas growth rate ranged from 0.78 to 0.94 log10 CFU/ml/h. Overall, isolate S1 (Salmonella infantis from ATCC) was the fastest growing. In Experiment 2, 4 isolates of Salmonella, 1 from ATCC and 3 from broiler operations, were used to determine whether holding temperature influences subsequent growth kinetics. Salmonella isolates were grown to stationary phase at 37°C in BHI and then held for 24 h at 5, 22, or 37°C before dilution and reinitiation of growth in BHI at 37°C. Holding temperature did not alter or interact with identity of the isolate to alter subsequent growth kinetics. From the latter finding, a protocol was devised in which a dual-flask system is used to prevent the need for midnight sampling in modeling experiments. Similar to the results obtained in Experiment 1, identity of the isolate had only minor effects on growth kinetics in Experiment 2 indicating that all isolates examined were suitable for modeling experiments.
