Distinction of Different Colony Types by a Smart-Data-Driven Tool

Background: Colony morphology (size, color, edge, elevation, and texture), as observed on culture media, can be used to visually discriminate different microorganisms. Methods: This work introduces a hybrid method that combines standard pre-trained CNN keras models and classical machine-learning models for supporting colonies discrimination, developed in Petri-plates. In order to test and validate the system, images of three bacterial species (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus) cultured in Petri plates were used. Results: The system demonstrated the following Accuracy discrimination rates between pairs of study groups: 92% for Pseudomonas aeruginosa vs. Staphylococcus aureus, 91% for Escherichia coli vs. Staphylococcus aureus and 84% Escherichia coli vs. Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Conclusions: These results show that combining deep-learning models with classical machine-learning models can help to discriminate bacteria colonies with good accuracy ratios.