Microcalorimetric study of the growth of bacterial colonies of Lactococcus lactis IL1403 in agar gels

► A method for studying growth of bacterial colonies in agar matrices was developed. ► Variation of inoculation rate was used to study growth of colonies of different sizes. ► A model describing growth of colonies in grids of different density was developed. ► The growth curve of a typical colony of Lactococcus lactis in agar gel was constructed.