Evaluation of agar dilution and broth microdilution methods to determine the disinfectant susceptibility

A variety of disinfectants have been widely used in veterinary hygiene, food industries and environments, which could induce the development of bacterial resistance to disinfectants. The methods used to investigate antimicrobial effects of disinfectant vary considerably among studies, making comparisons difficult. In this study, agar dilution and broth microdilution methods were used to compare the antimicrobial activities of four quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) against foodborne and zoonotic pathogens. The potential relationship between the presence of QACs resistance genes and phenotypic resistance to QACs was also investigated. Our results indicated that the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) determined by two methods might be different depended upon different QACs and bacteria applied. Regardless of the testing methods, Klebsiella pneumoniae was more tolerant among Gram-negative strains to four QACs, followed by Salmonella and Escherichia coli. The agreement between MICs obtained by the two methods was good, for benzalkonium chloride (78.15%), didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) (82.35%), cetylpyridinium chloride (CTPC) (97.48%) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) (99.16%), respectively. Among all Gram-negative bacteria, 94.55% (n=52) of qacEΔ1-positive strains showed higher MICs (512 mg l(-1)) to CTAB. The qacEΔ1 gene was highly associated (P<0.05) with the high MICs of QACs (⩾512 mg l(-1)). In addition, DDAC remained as the most effective disinfectant against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This is the first study that compared the agar dilution and broth microdilution methods to assess the antimicrobial activity of QACs. The study demonstrated the need to standardize method that would be used in evaluating QACs antimicrobial properties in the future.