Malt extract agar or MEA, also called light malt extract media, LME, is a culture medium commonly used for the cultivation of fungi. It mainly contains the extract of malted barley. Other ingredients such as peptone, dextrose or yeast extract may also be included.Hardy Diagnostics instructions for use: Malt extraxt agar Malt extract agar is popular for the detection, isolation and enumeration of yeasts and moulds as well as the culture of edible mushrooms.Sigma-Aldrich Malt extract agarhttps://ezmushroom.com/grow/light-malt-extract-lme-agar-recipe/
Typical composition A basic recipe is shown in the following chart.BAM Media M93: Malt Extract Agar from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;" |- ! value || ingredients & conditions |- || 1000 mL || water |- || 30 g || light malt extract |- || 20 g || agar powder |} some recipes also include around 5 g of peptone and/or 20 g of dextrose per litre.
The ingredients are generally heated until boiling to dissolve the agar and autoclaved before being left to cool to a safe temperature and then added to petri dishes or other culture vessels.
In some cases the agar is omitted resulting in a liquid media referred to as malt extract broth. This may be used for the liquid culture of fungal mycelium among other things.
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