The beetroot juice as a bacterial growth and maintenance medium for many pathogenic bacteria

عصير نبات الشوندر كوسط لنمو وديمومة عدة أجناس من البكتريا المرضية

In a pioneer study in Iraq, a water extract (juice) from the root of Beta vulgaris (beetroot) was prepared under sterile conditions, then used for the first time as experimental bacterial growth medium for the growth of the bacteria: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae; the juice was used as alternative growth medium for the nutrient agar and nutrient broth for the growth of these genera in the laboratory. All the genera showed active growth after (24) hours when the juice used directly as a liquid growth medium, the medium preserve these bacteria viable for (7) days. The juice was used also to enrich the agar-agar and cultured with the same bacteria; it showed a noticeable growth lasted for (10) days. The results suggest that this juice is a suitable growth medium for these bacteria, and it could be used instead of the growth media that mentioned above which used in the cultivation of these bacteria in the laboratory. It also represents important, rich nutritional environment not less important than those that is found in the other media.