Application of Food Grade Agar for Preparation as Media Using in Microbiological Laboratory Learning

ABSTRACT

Background: Because the analytical-grade agar commonly used in microbiological laboratory is very expensive. The food-grade agar, the lower cost one, was introduced for preparation of commonly used media in attempt to reduce the cost of this purpose.Objective: To assess the potentiality of the food grade agar in preparation of bacterial and fungal media for microbiological laboratory learning.Methods: Eighty six strains of bacteria were cultivated on Nutrient agar (NA) and Sugar assimilation media, and twenty two fungal strains (19 molds, 3 yeasts) were cultivated on Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA). These media were prepared by the food grade agar. The quality and quantity of these microorganism growth were compared to those of cultivation on media prepared by the analytical grade agar.Results: All bacterial strains showed the similar characteristics and also biochemical and physiological properties whether cultivation on media prepared from food grade agar or analytical grade agar. Nine strains of molds showed no significant difference on both SDAs, while each of 5 strains on food grade agar-SDA were included in the less and better growth groups (Paired t-test, p