Potato slices as medium to isolate and grow bacteria from milk in Homelab Kolkata.
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On 17/1/22 I took a potato and boiled it peeled and sliced it.Two slices were taken as test slices which had milk and one slice was taken as control which had no milk.Using a 0size paintbrush a drop of milk was taken and spread on the potato slice in S shape.The set up was kept covered.Temperature in Kolkata was 13 minm and 23maxm.On 18/1/22 one of the test slices showed clearly growth in S pattern while the control and other test slice did not show growth.On 19/1/22 it was the Hurrah moment when I saw very distinct bacterial colonies all along the S pattern in both the test slices whereas the control had very few scattered microbial growth.
Identification of the bacteria from colony morphology
On close observation there were two types of colonies one was like a bead of pearl white,convex,raised and smooth boundary which could be lactobacillus whereas the other was paler in colour,round with smooth boundary which could be lactococcus according to the reference given below.A ruler was used alongside the slice to measure the sizes of the two colonies.
Thus by using a simple method and apparatus bacteria from milk were isolated and grown and identification attempted at home.Future plans are to streak potato slices with raw and some with boiled milk to compare difference in bacterial growth.
My sincere thanks to Enas Fatima and other cubists and our mentor Dr Arunan.
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