Domatically critical and domatically full graphs

A subset, D, of the vertex set of a graph G is called a dominating set of G if each vertex of G is either in D or adjacent to some vertex in D. The maximum cardinality of a partition of the vertex set of G into dominating sets is the domatic number of G, denoted d(G). G is said to be domatically critical if the removal of any edge of G decreases the domatic number, and G is domatically full if d(G) assumes the known lower bound of 6(G) + 1. An example is given to settle a conjecture of B. Zelinka concerning the structure of a domatically critical graph. We also prove that a domatically critical graph G is domatically full if d(G) < 3 and provide’ examples to show this does not extend to the cases d(G) > 3.