What is the difference between nutrient broth and nutrient agar and can you elaborate more?

Answer 1

When 2%agar is added to nutrient broth ,it is called nutrient agar.

Nutrition Broth is liquid media containing beef extract and peptone.

Nutrition Agar is solid media containing beef extract, peptone, and agar

Answer 2

agar, as it gives the colonial clusters of microbes which are easy to pick and grow furteher although the microbes can grow with same speed in broth and have more nutrient available then agar media of same quantity as in agar media only surface compounds are taken by microbes, but in broth media we can not isolate different species of microbes so agar is good option.

Answer 3

A broth is a liquid mixture, usually in a test tube and sometimes in a plate. An agar broth contains agar which is derived from seaweed. Agar itself contains nutrients that will allow some microbial growth, but other nutrients can be added to test for certain bacteria, for example milk protein could be added to promote the growth of Lactobaccilus. Inhibitors such as salt could be added to find salt-tolerant bacteria, for example. In the MacConkey Agar Plate, bile salts are used to limit growth to enteric bacteria that grow in the human intestine, where bile salts exist. Most other bacteria cannot survive in the presence of these salts. This test can be used to find some disease-causing bacteria that infect the digestive system such as Salmonella and Shigella. Agar is usually used in a semisolid gel form on plates. This gel is used either alone or mixed with other nutrients or inhibitors, usually but not always in plates.

Answer 4

Nutrient Broth usually has a mixture of nutrients for a microbe to survive in. It is my understanding that there is not really a "standard" for nutrient broth. The point of this broth is to allow the maximal amount of microbes to survive in.

Thioglycolate broth has them as well, however, it has some interesting additions that highlight its usefulness in determinitive bacteriology (identifying unknowns):

1.) Glucose

2.) Cysteine

3.) Sodium Thioglycolate

4.) Resazurin (a dye which indicates the presence of oxygen)

The Cysteine and Sodium Thioglycolate lower the oxidation-reduction potential.

In plain english: You'll have a tube with a lot of oxygen at the top, and almost no oxygen at the bottom (unless you shake the tube of course). What this allows you to do is determine the oxygen requirements of your unknown bacterium.

You'll find strict aerobes and facultative aerobes primarily at the top.

You'll find facultative anaerobes and microaerophiles in high concentrations at the bottom and in lower concentrations at the top.

You'll find indifferent's evenly spread throughout the mixture.

I'm an undergrad at UCSD and am currently taking a Microbiology lab course. Much of this information came straight out of the textbook and lecture notes.

Good luck!

Answer 5

work agar is better as fungi and bacteria respond better and thrive, also nutrient agar is easier to work with than the broth. It will be harder to obtain results from the broth without using a colorimeter and the agar can give a clear indication of bacterial growth.

However if there is too many bacterial colonies growing in the agar, they'll join together in what's called a "lawn". Also agar is less accurate in measuring growth without a proper system e.g. a computer or really tiny quadrats!!!

Answer 6

easy to isolate microbes