This rich medium was described by Backhaus et al. (1984). Although expensive, flies are much more productive on this medium compared to cornmeal-molasses-yeast food (at least 10x more productive in our hands) and it pumps extremely well. The recipe below makes 1 liter and can be easily cooked in a microwave oven.
Instructions
| Agar* | 10 | grams |
| Brewer's Yeast | 80 | grams |
| Yeast Extract | 20 | grams |
| Peptone | 20 | grams |
| Sucrose | 30 | grams |
| Glucose | 60 | grams |
| MgSO4 x 6H2O | 0.5 | grams |
| CaCl2 x 2H2O | 0.5 | grams |
| Propionic acid | 6 | milliliters |
| 10% p-Hydroxy-benzoic acid methyl ester in 95% ethanol | 10 | milliliters |
| Distilled Water | add to above to make 1 liter | |
| *adjust agar concentration according to the gel strength of your agar | ||
Instructions
- Stir, one at a time, each ingredient except propionic acid and p-hydroxy-benzoic acid methyl ester into most of the water. Add additional water to bring the total to 1 liter.
- Bring mixture to a boil and turn off heat source.
- Cool to 60oC.
- Add p-hydroxy-benzoic acid methyl ester, stirring constantly.
- Add propionic acid just before dispensing.
- Dispense when the temperature of the mixture is between 40o and 60oC. The medium will separate if it is too hot when poured.
- Store at 8oC until ready to use.
Notes
- Agar
- The amount of agar should be determined empirically for your brand and lot of agar. We buy agar from MoorAgar, Inc., 6923 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91406