Comparison of the Growth of Escherichia coli and Candida albicans on Freshly Prepared and Lyophilized Optimized Persea americana (Mill.) Extract Agar

Abstract

This study compared the performance of two formulated media and two lyophilized media, namely, Persea americana agar (PAA), Supplemented Persea americana Agar (SPAA), Lyophilized Persea americana Agar (LPAA), and Lyophilized Supplemented Persea americana Agar (LSPAA). This study evaluated the growth of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 on SPAA and LSPAA, and Candida albicans on PAA and LPAA. E. coli was incubated at 37'C for 24 hous while C. albicans was incubated at room temperature for 48 hours.The observed cultural and morphological characteristics and population counts of E. coli on SPAA and LPAA were not statistically different from each other and from those of Nutrient Agar. Likewise, the observed cultural and morphological characteristics (cell length) and population counts of C. albicans on PAA and LPAA did not differ significantly from each other and from those of Czapek Dox Agar. These results suggest that lyophilization does not significantly alter the nutritional constituents of the media as there was no observed differences in the cultural and morphological characteristics and population counts of E. coli and C. albicans between the freshly prepared and lyophilized media.