SUBJECT: Hay infusions
DATE: 1/95

Would anyone have a recipe for a hay infusion culture. I would like to run an ecosystem and effects of pollution lab in a couple of weeks to demonstrate the effects of eutrophication, pesticides and acid rain in ecosystems. The protocol refers to a hay infusion culture but gives no details as to its preparation. Is there one type of hay (timothy, alfalfa, clover, etc.) which is better; does the material have to be chopped/broken/homogenized; do you simply plop it into distilled water or are additives required? If anyone has prepared this type of culture or can suggest a better alternative would you please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Mike Weber
Carleton University
Dept of Biology
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
mweber@ccs.carleton.ca

Wards has a pond life mix that is dried grasses from a pond with dormant organisms on it. I have pulled bits of mud and grasses from a local pond and used it to demonstrate how organisms can come back from a desiccated state. Either of these will probably accomplish what you want with a hay infusion.
Janice M. Glime
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Tech. Univ.
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu


Another source for hay infusions is Techniques and Materials in Biology: Care and Use of Living Animals, Plants and Micro-organisms by Marjorie P. Behringer. The ISBN is 0-89464-350-9. It is published by Krieger Publishing Company.
I have more information about the book if you wish.
Helen K. Pigage
Dept of Biology
United States Air Force Academy
(719) 495-4154
PigageHK%DFB%USAFA@dfmail4.usafa.af.mil


For our hay infusion tanks we use pond water, mud from the bottom of the pond, and dry grass. One of the lab techs here raises sheep, so sometimes we use the old bedding straw. Do not use green grass, it has a tendency to grow! If you are starting this now, I suggest letting the pond water sit for a couple of weeks to let it warm up, and for the micro organisms and what not, to come out of stasis. We've had snails appear, various worms, fresh water hydra, leeches etc. We generally let the tanks go for six weeks. Good Luck!
Kirsten Mahlovich
KMAHOVL@uoft02.utoledo.edu


In response to your request for information about hay infusion cultures: We purchased the 'start-up' materials for hay-infusion cultures from Carolina Biologicals and/or Wards' and simply followed their directions. However, after a while we began preparing our own hay medium by boiling hay, purchased from one of the above-mentioned suppliers until the medium was of a deep brown. If you add a few pieces of hay and a few grains of wheat you should get a nice bacterial growth and the protists should be able to survive well in these media.

We have tried this (or a similar) lab. Please send follow-up information on
how it went for you. Good-luck!

Rosemary Boone
Dept. of Biological Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
email - rmboone@vms.cis.pitt.edu
(412) 624-9325


We use hay infusions and they are very simple to prepare. Simply add hay(no need to chop or homogenize it except to make it fit into a container)to tap water in a container. We use finger bowls but you could use any size or type I would think. We then place the container under a light source. You will need to top up the water occassionally to replace any lost through evaporation. We collect our hay from a hay field behind the college but you can purchase hay if it is not available locally. In two to three days your culture should be fill with organisms.

Nancy McInerney
Red Deer College
NMCINERNEY@RDC.AB.CA.


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