Question

How many stages does a bacterial growth curve have?

(a) 5

(b) 1

(c) 4

(d) 3

I had been asked this question in a national level competition.

This is a very interesting question from Biotechnology in portion Biotechnology Principles and Processes of Biology – Class 12

Answer 1

Right answer is (c) 4

To explain I would say: A typical bacterial growth curve has four distinct phases, namely log phase, lag/exponential phase, stationary phase, and death/decline phase. Bacteria divide with the help of binary fission. Few other micro-organisms such as algae, protozoa, yeasts also show these same growth phases.