We are planning to grow bacteria on nutrient agar, but we would like to avoid the growth of fungi. We only want bacteria; thus, what antifungal agent could we add to the nutrient agar?
Fungi takes about 3 to 5 days to grow, while bacteria grows within 24 to 48 hours. Plating or inoculating your sample on nutrient agar without anti-fungal agent will thus give you bacterial colonies within 24 to 48 hours without the presence of fungal colonies. The plates can even be kept up to 7 days, and no growth of fungi would take place because the bacterial cells have already established themselves and via competition and other mechanisms would prevent the establishment of any fungal cells. However, if you wish to add anti-fungal agent to your nutrient agar you can use Nystatin at a concentration of 100 ug/ml. Note that the agent should be added after your molten agar have cooled to about 50 degree C, if not the anti-fungal agent would be destroyed by heat. Good luck.