Description
Dichloran Rose-bengal Chloramphenicol Medium (DRBC) AM 51 was developed by King et al., who took the earlier formulation of Jarvis namely Rose-bengal Chlortetracycline agar, as a baseline for research.
The aim was to produce a medium capable of overcoming the problems associated with spreading moulds (Mucorales) encountered in food samples, which frequently grew at the expense of the less vigorous moulds, resulting in lower counts than those that were actually present.
King et al., took RBC agar without the addition of Rose-bengal and added a variety of anti-fungal agents to aliquots of the medium to test the selective inhibition of Rhizopus. Results indicated that dichloran was the most appropriate agent for use, and tests were performed on varying concentrations of dichloran to establish the level that gave good balance between growth and inhibition of fungal species tested.
