Rapid method for selecting appropriate solid media for the enumeration of aerobic micro‐organisms

Abstract

A rapid and inexpensive method for selecting appropriate solid culture media was devised. It consists of rapid picking of fragments of test colonies with the aid of a rubber strip in which pins are fixed in parallel; up to 8 colonies are dispensed simultaneously in the wells of a microtiter plate and 4 strains can be streaked at the same time on square Petri dishes containing the media being compared. The approximate diameters of well-isolated colonies were measured with the aid of a series of calibrated spots. The results corresponded with those given by the spiral plate method used as a reference for colony count and diameter.