Culture media are a combination of pre-defined ingredients that support the growth and proliferation of microorganisms in an artificial/in vitro environment. They are used for the isolation of organisms from various samples such as clinical specimens, food, or the environment.
Based on the consistency, culture media are further categorized as solid, semisolid, and liquid (broth). Functionally, culture media can be classified as differential, selective, enriched, enrichment, assay, transport, etc.