[Taxonomic importance of fermentation balances of Enterobacteriaceae (author's transl)].

Fermentation balances have been studied on 66 strains from 9 taxa of Enterobacteriaceae. In addition, 6 strains of Aeromonas have been investigated. Among these fermentation balances, 7 types could be distinguished. It was shown, that the taxa of Enterobacteriaceae differed with respect to the balance types involved. This is true especially for VP-positive taxa. For example, Hafnia, the Klebsiella-Enterobacter-Serratia group, Enterobacter cloacae and Erwinia are to some extend characterized by different balance types. The groups of Enterobacteriaceae with plain acid fermentation are apperently more homogenous with respect to fermentation balances. Balances are, however, not suited for classification, because no balance type turned out to be absolutely group specific. The fermentation balances of our strains of Aeromonas are closely related to the acid-type balances of Enterobacteriaceae. A numerical classification of the data showed, that this method is most potent in sorting multivariate data. A basic agreement of both techniques, the subjective and the numerical subdivision, was found. The first one, however, tends to overemphasize differences among the types. A comparison between the quantitative data of fermentation balances and the corresponding diagnostic tests (MR, VP, Gas) gives information on the reliabiity of the latter.