At present, there is no unified culture
medium to quantify
the
cultivability of fungal spores in water, making comparisons between
studies difficult. This study intended to select an appropriate medium
to obtain a lower percentage of viable but nonculturable Aspergillus spores at different viable states (freshly prepared, impaired-treated)
and fungi in actual water. Five kinds of media ((dichloran rose bengal
chloramphenicol (DRBC) agar, potato dextrose agar (PDA), dichloran
18% glycerol (DG-18) agar, rose bengal (RB) agar, and yeast extract
dextrose chloramphenicol (YDC) agar) were selected. To obtain the
result quickly and colony counting clearly for freshly prepared Aspergillus spores, the optimal incubation time was determined,
and the cultivating effectiveness of media was: DRBC > RB >
YDC >
DG-18 > PDA. The DRBC medium exhibited better performance in quantifying
impaired spores treated by ultraviolet or chlorine. Besides, RB medium
was optimal for fungal enumeration in actual water. DRBC and RB media
exhibited higher potential capacity in cultivating Aspergillus spores at different viable states because the existence of rose
bengal restricted the size of the colony and the lower content of
glucose limited the rapid growth of colonies. This study provides
meaningful information for selecting a suitable medium to quantify
fungal spores at different viable states.