Enriched and Enrichment Media

The main distinction between enriched and enrichment media is that enriched media supports the growth of nutritionally demanding bacteria, whereas enrichment media prevents the growth of undesired or contaminated microorganisms. Enriched media is also agar-based, and the viscosity of enrichment media is liquid. Although there are some parallels between the two, there are also significant distinctions that must be understood. We’ll go through the differences between enriched and enrichment media in depth in this post. First of all, let’s look at what enrichment in microbiology means.

Enrichment 

Enrichment culture is the process of using a specific growth medium to encourage the growth of one microbe over others, therefore enriching a sample for the microorganism of interest. Enrichment cultures have been used to raise the number of targeted organisms, which occur in limited numbers, to measurable levels.

Bacterial Culture Media

Microbiological media, often known as bacterial culture media, is a bacterial growth medium. To put it another way, it has everything that the bacteria require to grow outside of the body and in the laboratory.  

Types of Media in Microbiology

(1) Basal media, (2) Enriched media, (3) Selective media, (4) Indicator media, (5) Transport media, and (6) Storage media are the six categories of bacterial culture media. 

Note: enrichment media is a sub-type of selective media.

Now let us look at each type of media to clearly understand the difference between enriched and enrichment media. 

Enriched Media

Enriched media is a type of cultural media, which is used to grow micro-organisms of a wide variety. This also includes fastidious organisms. As a result of this function, enriched media contains high nutrition in form of egg yolk or blood serum so on. Its basal medium also contains nutrients. Hence, nutrients are provided to nutritionally exacting micro-organisms as well.

 The most prominent examples of enriched media are:

• Chocolate agar
• Blood agar
• Loeffler’s serum
• MacConkey agar
• Lowenstein-Jensen media

Enrichment Media

Enrichment media are a form of extremely selective medium that only permits a specific species of a microbe to grow in it. These mediums prevent undesirable, commensal, or contaminating microbes from growing. As a result, enrichment media can be used to concentrate on a certain type of microorganism while recovering it from the rest of the medium’s microorganisms.

Enrichment media are typically liquid in their consistency. Selective media is a term used to describe agar-based media that fulfil the same function. Furthermore, antibiotics, dyes, chemicals, pH changes, or a combo of these can be used to increase the selectivity of these media.

Examples of enrichment media that are the most prominent are:

• Selenite F broth 
• tetrathionate broth
• alkaline peptone water (APW)

Enriched and Enrichment Media: Similarities 

• They are both forms of culture media used in the laboratory to cultivate microorganisms
• They give a medium for microorganisms to flourish as well as nutrients
• Enriched media and enrichment media are also divided into categories based on their intended usage

Enriched And Enrichment Media: Difference

1. Enriched media contains the nutrients required for the growth of a wide variety of organisms, including select fastidious types, whilst enrichment media are a liquid medium that inhibits the growth of unwanted microbes.
2. Enrichment media support the development of a single type of bacterium, whereas enriched media support the culture of a wide range of bacteria.
3. The fundamental difference between enriched and enrichment media would be that enriched media is solid, while enrichment media is liquid.
4. Enriched media provide extra nutrients such as egg yolk, blood, and serum in addition to the baseline medium, whereas enrichment media contain antibiotics, colours, chemicals, or a changed pH.
5. The target is another key distinction between enriched and enrichment media. The goal of the enrichment medium is to increase the proliferation of fastidious microorganisms while preventing the development of undesired or contaminating bacteria.
6. Enriched media include blood agar, chocolate agar, Loeffler’s serum, MacConkey agar, Lowenstein-Jensen media, and others, whereas enrichment media include Selenite F broth, tetrathionate broth, alkaline peptone water (APW), and others.

Conclusion

Enriched media is an agar-based medium that supports a wide diversity of microorganisms, even those that are fastidious. In general, enriched media are reliable. Enrichment media are aqueous media that inhibit the growth of unwanted microorganisms. The prime difference between enriched and enrichment media is primarily the type of microorganisms.