Answer:
Advantages
- Serial dilution is used in microbiology to estimate the concentration or number of cells/organisms in a sample to obtain an incubated plate with an easily countable number of colonies.
- In biochemistry, serial dilution is used to obtain the desired concentration of reagents and chemicals from a higher concentration.
- In pharmaceutical laboratories, serial dilution is performed to receive the necessary concentration of chemicals and compounds as this method is more effective than individual dilutions.
- In homeopathy, homeopathic dilutions are used where a substance is diluted in distilled water or alcohol. It is believed than dilution increases the potency of the diluted substance by activating its vital energy.
Disadvantages
- An error might occur during the propagation of the sample, and the transfer inaccuracies lead to less accurate and less precise transfer. This results in the highest dilution to have the most inaccuracies and the least accuracy.
- Because serial dilution is performed in a stepwise manner, it requires a more extended period of time which limits the efficiency of the method.
- Serial dilution only allows the reduction of bacteria/cells but not the separation of bacteria/cells like in other techniques like flow cytometry.
- This technique also requires highly trained microbiologists and experts in aseptic techniques.
