What is a countable number of colonies on a bacterial plate?

Category: hobbies and interests beekeeping
4.2/5 (498 Views . 42 Votes)
ASTM provides countable ranges of 20-80 CFU/membrane, 20-200 for spread plates and 30-300 for pour plates (7). The FDA Bacterial Analytical Manual (BAM) recommends 25-250 CFU/plate as a countable range (8).



Consequently, how do you count bacterial colonies on agar plate?

The primary trick in counting colonies is to count each colony dot once. One approach is to set the Petri dish on a grid background and count the colonies in each grid cell, moving in a methodical pattern through all of the cells. Marking counted colonies on the back of the Petri dish can also be a helpful approach.

Furthermore, what are possible reasons that the CFU underestimates the number of bacteria in soil? All the bacteria that counted is underestimate of the actual number of viable bacteria in soil because upon incubation each viable cell will give rise to a colony either in the agar or on the agar surface. It is possible that a colony could have arisen from two or more cells that stuck together.

Consequently, how do you calculate the number of bacteria in original culture?

Population Calculations Multiply the number of colonies on the plate by 10 to calculate the number of cells per mL of culture from the dilution tube used. Multiply the number from Step 2 by 10^(plate number) to calculate the number of cells per mL of original culture.

What is a countable plate?

A countable plate is one that yields between. 30 and 300 colonies on a standard Petri plate. . Plates with fewer than 30 colonies are not counted because th. variability between plates renders the estimates of cell density statistically unreliable.

39 Related Question Answers Found

How do you identify a colony of microorganisms?

Bacteria. Each distinct circular colony should represent an individual bacterial cell or group that has divided repeatedly. Being kept in one place, the resulting cells have accumulated to form a visible patch. Most bacterial colonies appear white, cream, or yellow in color, and fairly circular in shape.

What does CFU stand for?

colony forming unit

How do you measure bacteria?

The easiest way to measure bacterial growth is to put your sample on a clear glass plate under a microscope and count how many bacteria cells there are. Alternatively, you can measure turbidity, which is the amount of bacteria in your sample.

How many colonies should be on the plate inoculated?

A plate inoculated with a sample volume of 10-7 mL produced 170 colonies.

What is total bacterial count?


The total bacteria count is one of the key indicators in the field of hygiene management. It indicates how many microorganisms are present in a sample. Monitoring the total bacteria count is necessary, because the number of microorganisms shouldn't exceed certain guide values.

How many cells are in a colony forming unit?

6 Colony forming unit assay for CEFs. The colony forming unit (CFU) is a measure of viable colonogenic cell numbers in CFU/mL [23]. A fixed number of isolated chick embryonic fibroblasts were plated in a 6-well plate along with 2–3 mL of DMEM medium.

How do you calculate bacterial growth?

Bacterial growth
  1. Example.
  2. The mean division time for bacteria population A is 20 minutes.
  3. In order to answer this, you can split the calculations into two sections.
  4. If the bacteria grow for six hours, each bacterium will divide 3 times per hour × 6 hours = 18 times.
  5. Every time the bacteria reproduce, the number doubles.

Why is CFU important?

In microbiology, a colony-forming unit (CFU, cfu, Cfu) is a unit used to estimate the number of viable bacteria or fungal cells in a sample. The visual appearance of a colony in a cell culture requires significant growth, and when counting colonies it is uncertain if the colony arose from one cell or a group of cells.

How long would it take for the bacteria to go from 1 bacterium to 500 bacteria?

For illustration, assuming a doubling time of 1 hour, 1 bacteria will become 2 in 1 hour, 2 will become 4 in 2 ( = 1+1) hours and so on. Mathematically this will be: Final amount = 2^n, where n is the number of doubling times. solving which, we get, n = 6.64 doubling times or 6.64 hours (in this case).

What is a colony of bacteria?


Bacteria grow on solid media as colonies. A colony is defined as a visible mass of microorganisms all originating from a single mother cell, therefore a colony constitutes a clone of bacteria all genetically alike.

What is the CFU ml of the original culture?

To find out the number of CFU/ ml in the original sample, the number of colony forming units on the countable plate is multiplied by 1/FDF. This takes into account all of the dilution of the original sample. For the example above, the countable plate had 200 colonies, so there were 200 CFU, and the FDF was 1/4000.

How do you measure concentration of bacteria?

Directly counting blood cells or tissue cells by using a hemocytometer can determine the concentration of a known volume. Counting the number of colonies that arise on a pour plate can calculate the concentration by multiplying the count by the volume spread on the pour plate.

How can I test my bacteria at home?

Re: Measuring Bacteria
The most common way would probably be to swab your solid surface and then rub that swab over a petri dish with bacterial growth agar. Then you just let the plates incubate and grow. Keep in mind that different types of bacteria grow on different growth mediums and at different temperatures, etc.

How do you find the dilution factor?

Simple Dilution (Dilution Factor Method based on ratios)
For example, a 1:5 dilution (verbalize as "1 to 5" dilution) entails combining 1 unit volume of solute (the material to be diluted) + 4 unit volumes of the solvent medium (hence, 1 + 4 = 5 = dilution factor).

How do you measure bacteria in water?


The Aquagenx Compartment Bag Test detects E. coli in drinking water. It is a clear plastic bag divided into five compartments, each of which contains a chromogenic growth medium for E. coli, which is food that changes the water's color as the bacteria eat and reproduce.

What is the difference between colonies and CFU?

Colony = what you count on a plate, each consisting of millions of cells. Cfu = one individual cell in the stock culture with the potential to become a colony. A colony is a single isolated visible mass of cells. Colony forming unit is the original cell that proliferates into a colony.

How do you kill bacteria in soil?

Soil pasteurization kills pathogenic organisms and weed seeds. Pasteurization uses aerated steam and a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour. Some beneficial microbes remain. Soils can be treated to 180 F to sterilize the soil, but this temperature can produce toxic byproducts.