Comparison of Chickpea Dextrose Agar with Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar Fungal Culture Media for Cultivating Pathogenic Fungi Causing Human Infections

Fungal infections are one of the important causes for diseases in humans. Laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections is dependent on microscopy and culture which is time consuming. Studies have been done earlier with fungi pathogenic to plants comparing the growth on Chickpea dextrose agar with other fungal culture media. There are no studies done with fungi pathogenic to humans.

To compare the growth of fungi pathogenic to humans on Sabouraud's dextrose agar and Chickpea dextrose agar and to evaluate the cost effectiveness and improvisation in early laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections.

Sabouraud's dextrose agar was prepared using a commercial dehydrated media. Chickpea dextrose agar was prepared using chickpea flour, commercial Dextrose and agar agar. Stock cultures of fifteen known human pathogenic fungi were inoculated into Sabouraud's dextrose agar and Chickpea dextrose agar and were incubated at 37°c and 25°c for a period of 21 days. The growths on the cultures were noted and compared.

On day one all fungi except Cryptococcus grew on Sabouraud's dextrose agar with minimal growth. On Chickpea dextrose agar all the fifteen fungi grew and growth was appreciated better than Sabouraud's dextrose agar for nine of the fungi. On day seven all fungi showed luxuriant growth on Chickpea dextrose agar. On Sabouraud's dextrose agar only seven fungi showed luxuriant growth in first week. By day 21 all fungi grew to its maximum in both media. The reverse pigmentation was appreciated better on Sabouraud's dextrose agar.

Chickpea dextrose agar allows the growth of fungi pathogenic to humans faster than Sabouraud's dextrose agar and is cheaper than Sabouroud's Dextrose agar. Studies are required for comparison with more fungi and testing directly from clinical specimens. Chickpea dextrose agar can be used along with or as an alternative to Sabouraud's dextrose agar.