Sampling for airborne fungi: a statistical comparison of media

Four broad spectrum media employed for enumeration of fungi from air were compared to determine which would yield the highest number of colony forming units when simultaneously sampling air from the same environment. The four media tested were: Inhibitory Mold Agar, Littman Oxgall Agar, Rose Bengal-Streptomycin Agar, and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar. The number of colony forming units produced on the media were compared by an incomplete four-factor factorial design (day, time, sampler and medium). Analysis of variance of the data indicated that highly significant variation was associated with collection medium and different sampling days. Comparisons among the media were performed by Duncan's multiple range test which demonstrated significantly lower values on Littman Oxgall as compared to the other media. There was no significant difference in the number of colonies produced on Rose Bengal-Streptomycin Agar, Inhibitory Mold Agar, and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar. For a number of reasons, Rose Bengal-Streptomycin Agar is our medium of choice for broad spectrum aeromycological sampling.