Development of spectrophotometric method for rapid detection of generic Escherichia coli population in agricultural waters

The aim of this study is to develop a spectrophotometric method for determining the microbiological quality of agricultural waters. Generic Escherichia coli populations in four different agricultural water sources. Results of generic E. coli populations determined through the developed spectrophotometric model and traditional culture-based methods [most probable number (log MPN/100 mL), membrane filtration (log CFU/100 mL)] results were compared. After (DMSO) extraction, high linear correlation between populations calculated by models derived from generic E. coli strains ATCC 25922 and ATCC 35218 based on OD632 reads at 12 hours (R2=0.9195) and ATCC 35128 at 10 hours (R2=0.8647). The correlation between the membrane filtration method used in the determination of the scattering and the developed spectrophotometric method was found to be moderately high (R2=0.684). The results obtained with the membrane filtration method used in the detection of generic E. coli in agricultural waters showed close values with the results obtained with the developed spectrophotometric reading-based method. The developed spectrophotometric method can be used for rapid detection of generic E. coli population in agricultural waters.