Peak-to-peak decline rate, <i>k</i>, for bacterial count peaks <i>c</i>(<i>t</i>_2<i>ℓ</i>) (Eq (9)) as a function of on/off pulse durations, <i>t</i>_on, <i>t</i>_off, respectively, for pulse dosing.

The decline rate, k, achieves a maximum for (toff/ton)opt≈0.4 according to Eq (11) (white line) and remains relatively flat for small variations of ton, toff near (toff/ton)opt≈0.4. Note also that isolines (black) are straight, indicating dependence of k on (toff/ton) rather than on individual values of ton, toff.