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Culturew Media
A culture is any growth or cultivation of microorganisms. Cultivation is the process of inducing microbe to grow. The term culture is usually employed for a deliberate growth in the laboratory. Microbes are thus cultivated in vitro (Latin vitro=glass i.e. in flasks, tubes, vessels etc).

A pure culture is one that contains only a single kind (species) of microbe. To culture microbes in laboratory we require the preparation of substances which they can use as food. Such nutrient preparations which microorganisms can use as food are called culture media. . Different microorganisms require different nutrient materials. Thus culture media vary in form and composition, depending on the species to be cultivated.

There are three main types of culture media: (i) Natural or empirical culture media, (ii) Synthetic or defined culture media, and (iii) Living media.