Plate Count

In solid medium counting of organism depends on the fact that living cells
will proceed to multiply and in time produce sufficient progeny to form a
colony visible to naked eye. Since bacteria occur in water as single cell
pairs chains or even dense clumps not every individual living cell will develop
into a separate colony the results are expressed as number of counts per ml.
i.e. bacteria per ml.
Preparation and dilution: samples should be shaken well. Required portion
shall be withdrawn with a sterile pipette. Introduced into the petridish or
dilution tube.
Plating: a 1 ml, 01 or 0.01ml or other suitable dilution to be used for plating
should be place in the petridish first then 10 to 15 ml of melted agar medium
at a temperature of 43 to 45degree centrigrade.
Since bacteria occur in water as single cell pairs chains or even dense
clumps not every individual living cell will develop into a separate colony the
results are expressed as number of counts per ml. i.e. bacteria per ml.