EXPT. No.

1 Familiarization of laboratory equipment and instruments in relation to

Plant pathology

AIM:
To identify laboratory equipment and instruments.
To understand the use and working principles of laboratory equipment and instruments.

PRINCIPLE:
Laboratory equipment and instruments play an important role in qualitative and quantitative
analysis. They are important with regards to judging the quality of diseased specimens and
pathogens responsible for the disease. While working in a laboratory we use different equipment
either made of glass or metals (preferably stainless steel) and instruments. A brief description of
these items is given below.

EQUIPMENT AND INSTRUMENTS:

1. Pipette: It is used to make the known volume of a solution. Pipettes are of two types
volumetric and graduated and these are either of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 or 50 ml capacity.

2. Burette: It is used to titrate a sample of unknown concentration against a standard

solution (the concentration of which is known).

3. Volumetric Flask: Volumetric flasks are generally 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000ml
capacity and are used to prepare a solution of known concentration (standard solution).

4. Measuring Cylinder: It is a cylinder of glass having a graduated mark on it. Cylinders

are generally 10, 50, 100, 500 or 1000 ml capacity. They are used to take a known
volume of solution.

5. Thermometer: Thermometers are used to measure the temperature of a solution or

sample. These are made up of glass and are graduated at 0.10 C intervals and are marked
from 00 C- 500 C, 00 C- 1000 C, 00 C- 2000 C etc.

6. Water Bath: It is used to heat the sample to a specific temperature. It should be equipped
with a digital temperature display and a temperature range of up to 1000 C or higher.

7. Analytical Balance: It is generally used to weigh the chemicals and/or samples etc.
Nowadays single-pan electronic balances are available in the market.
8. Oven: It is made of stainless steel and is used for heating the samples and other
substances. Temperature range up 0ºC to 2500 C is generally kept. The temperature is
controlled thermostatically.

9. Muffle Furnace: This is required to determine the ash content of a food sample, which
gives an idea about the mineral content in the food. The temperature range of the furnace
is between 50-12000 C.

10. Hot air oven: To dry the sample and detect the moisture contents of the sample.

11. Colony Counter: It is used to count the microbial colonies directly in the Petri dish.
Fluorescent light is provided for the uniform light illumination.

12. Autoclave: It is used to sterilize the food and also the media and glassware in the
microbiology laboratory to make them free from microorganisms.

13. Microscope: It is used to observe microorganisms which are very small or not visible to
our eye.

14. pH Meter: It is used to determine the pH of samples through the potential difference
between a glass and calomel electrode.

15. Flame Photometer and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer: The instruments are
used to determine the mineral and metal content including heavy metals (toxic metals) in
the food products.

16. Colourimeter: It is used to determine the colour intensity of the sample.

17. Incubator: It is used for storing samples under the desired temperature.

18. Kjeldahl Unit: It is used for determining the Nitrogen content of the sample.

19. Laminar Flow: It is a chamber used to create an environment which is free of

contamination.

20. Desiccator: It is used to absorb moisture and also to reduce heat.

21. Fume hood: It is the chamber which creates an environment to work hazardous toxic
gases.

22. Magnetic stirrer: It is used for stirring any liquid sample.

Other glassware and materials

1. Petri Dish: It is used for culturing microbes

2. Inoculation loop: It is used to spread the inoculum into Petri Dish-containing media.

3. Sprit Lamp: To create sterile conditions

4. Conical Flask: To store samples and

5. Microscope slide: It is a thin flat piece of glass used to hold objects for examination
under a microscope.

6. Coverslip/cover glass: smaller and thinner sheet of glass that is placed over the
specimens. It protects the microscope lens from getting contaminated.

7. Surgical blade: Used for cutting the specimen

8. Aluminium foil: Wrap object before keeping for autoclave.

9. Glass bottle: Used for storing liquid samples or solutions

Eyepiece: The lens the viewer looks through to see the specimen. The eyepiece usually contains
a 10X or 15X power lens.

Diopter Adjustment: Useful as a means to change focus on one eyepiece to correct for any
difference in vision between your two eyes.

Body tube (Head): The body tube connects the eyepiece to the objective lenses.

Arm: The arm connects the body tube to the base of the microscope.

Coarse adjustment: Brings the specimen into general focus.

Fine adjustment: Fine tunes the focus and increases the detail of the specimen.
Nosepiece: A rotating turret that houses the objective lenses. The viewer spins the nosepiece to
select different objective lenses.

Objective lenses: One of the most important parts of a compound microscope, as they are the
lenses closest to the specimen.

A standard microscope has three, four, or five objective lenses that range in power from 4X to
100X. When focusing on the microscope, be careful that the objective lens doesn’t touch the
slide, as it could break the slide and destroy the specimen.

Specimen or slide: The specimen is the object being examined. Most specimens are mounted on
slides, flat rectangles of thin glass.

The specimen is placed on the glass and a coverslip is placed over the specimen. This allows the
slide to be easily inserted or removed from the microscope. It also allows the specimen to be
labelled, transported, and stored without damage.

Stage: The flat platform where the slide is placed.

Stage clips: Metal clips that hold the slide in place.

Stage height adjustment (Stage Control): These knobs move the stage left and right or up and
down.

Aperture: The hole in the middle of the stage that allows light from the illuminator to reach the
specimen.

On/off switch: This switch on the base of the microscope turns the illuminator off and on.

Illumination: The light source for a microscope. Older microscopes used mirrors to reflect light
from an external source up through the bottom of the stage; however, most microscopes now use
a low-voltage bulb.

Iris diaphragm: Adjusts the amount of light that reaches the specimen.

Condenser: Gathers and focuses light from the illuminator onto the specimen being viewed.

Base: The base supports the microscope and it’s where the illuminator is located.
References