From the on-line mass spectrometric analyese of the exhaust gaseous composition of fermentor and the material balance equations for oxygen and carbon dioxide, oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and carbon dioxide evolution rate (CER) were calculate using a personal computer (IBM PC-AT) interfaced to a quadrupole mass spectromter. The calculate OUR and CER were used for the indirect estimation of cell and substrate concentrations during the batch culture of Candida utilis. For the estimation of sustrate concentration, the yield model of Pirt was applied. It was found that the cell and substrate (glucose) concentration could be ssatisfactorily estimataed and the results showed the more accurate estimations of both fermentation state variables when OUR data were used than CER data.