SCREENING OF DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA FOR GROWTH DEVELOPMENT, AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF Aspergillus niger

Abstract

This research on the screening of different culture media for growth development, and morphological characteristics of Aspergillus niger was carried out between February and July 2021, to determine the best agar media for the growth of Aspergillus niger. Five different agar mediums are used to carry out the research. The agar mediums includes Potato Dextrose Agar mediums (PDA), Czapek's Yeast Extract Agar mediums (CYEA), Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar medium (SDA), Malt Extract Agar medium (MEA) and Potato carrot agar medium (PCA). A spoiled food samples was filled in a beaker with a normal saline and was allowed to dissolve for 15mins. The sample was checked very well every 4 hours and also filtered into a sterile tube. After that 1ml of the sample was collected using a sterile string and innoculate it in each of the already prepared agar mediums in a petri dishes and incubate it at 37oC for 48hours and count the observed fungal growth using the colony counter. PDA yielded a total growth count of 19.55x104 after 48hours of incubation at 37oC. CYEA yielded a total growth count of 10.0x104 after 48hours of incubation at 37oC. SDA yielded a total growth count of 5.00x104 after 48hours of incubation at 37oC. MEA yielded a total growth count of 1.20x104 after 48hours of incubation at 37oC and PCA yielded a total growth count of 7.5x104 after 48hours of incubation at 37oC. The study shows that Aspergillus niger grows mostly and was able to multiply rapidly on Potato dextrose agar medium (PDA) because these media contains the most nutritive components needed by the A. niger to carry out its metabolism and reproduce by its spore formation. And according to the morphological characteristics of Aspergillus niger they all have a black coloration when viewed under the light microscope.