Sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas ) sucrose agar as an alternative culture medium for Candida albicans.

        The study aimed to determine the ability of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Sucrose Agar as an alternative culture medium for Candida albicans. The Sweet Potato Sucrose Agar is composed of sweet potato infusion, 20 grams of sucrose, and 10 grams of unflavoured gelatin. The mixture was sterilized by autoclaving at 121⁰C for 15 minutes and 60 ml of it was dispensed in 150mm x 15mm Petri dish and allowed to solidify. Total of forty (40) plates were used in the study; wherein ten (10) plates for each different concentration of sweet potato infusions (100g, 200g and 400g) and ten (10) for Potato Dextrose Agar as the positive control were prepared at Cebu Doctors' University Research and Medical Technology laboratories. Iodine test was performed to qualitatively test the presence of starch and a negative test for Benedict's test was performed on all experimental media to confirm the presence of sucrose. Cork borer was used on pure cultures of Candida albicans to shape 12cm discs and these were inoculated on both experimental media and commercialized Potato Dextrose Agar, incubated at 28⁰C in the dark for ten (10) days. Presence of fungal growth is observed with off-white to gray, creamy wrinkled colonies. Once growth was established, colonies where subjected to Germ Tube testing to confirm that the growth is of Candida albicans. Data were collected, tabulated and analyzed.

          Based on the data gathered and analyzed, all the ten (10) samples for each treatment group (100g, 200g, and 400g sweet potato infusion) yielded similar results - cream-colored, smooth colonies macroscopically. The mean growth of Candida albicans using 200g and 400g Sweet Potato infusion was two (2) days. However, the 100g Sweet Potato infusion had a mean growth of four (4) days. Likewise, the mean growth of Candida albicans using the Potato Dextrose Agar was also two (2) days.

     Sweet Potato Sucrose Agar was indeed suitable for the cultivation of Candida albicans. The different concentrations of Sweet Potato Sucrose Agar exhibited appreciable growth in days that were comparable to the positive control group - Potato Dextrose Agar. Furthermore, as low as 200g of Sweet Potato infusion, it showed identical colony growth, with the same time frame of growth in two days as that of Potato Dextrose Agar. For continuous learning and experimentation, future researchers may vary sucrose levels and type of water to be incorporated in the sweet potato infusion. Also, future studies may include determining the shelf-life of the potato sucrose agar and its viability to cultivate other fungal specie and both gram positive and gram negative organisms.