pour-plate culture

pour-plate culture

[′pȯr ‚plāt ‚kəl·chər] (microbiology) A technique for pure-culture isolation of bacteria; liquid, cooled agar in a test tube is inoculated with one loopful of bacterial suspension and mixed by rolling the tube between the hands; subsequent transfers are made from this to a second test tube, and from the second to a third; contents of each tube are poured into separate petri dishes; pure cultures can be isolated from isolated colonies appearing on the plates after incubation.