Hugh Leifson Medium was formulated by Hugh and Leifson (2). They described the taxonomic significance of fermentative and oxidative metabolism of carbohydrates in gram-negative intestinal bacteria. There are two ways of utilizing carbohydrates by microorganisms, namely fermentation and oxidation. This property may be frequently used for the differentiation of some bacteria. The medium contains a high concentration of carbohydrate and low concentration of peptone to avoid the possibility of an aerobic organism utilizing peptone and producing an alkaline condition which would neutralize slight acidity produced by an oxidative organism (1,5). Dipotassium phosphate promotes fermentation and acts as pH controlling buffer. Agar concentration enables the determination of motility and aids in distribution of acid throughout the tube produced at the surface of medium. Bromthymol blue is the pH indicator.
Application: Used for Detecting Aerobic and Anaerobic Breakdown of Glucose