Plaque Electronic Im age Segm ent and Automatic Counting by Computer

Abstrat：Plaques counting is a routine method in the theory research and practiced application of microbiology．Because of weak contrast between plaque an d the background of the plate，an d the plaques linking together,a serious error was produced using automatic counting by computer．So that plaques have been counted by artificial method．In the present study，a new method was established for automatic counting plaques by computer．At first，The plaques were formed by infecting Escherichia coli with 入bacteriophage，and prepared as the method of soft—agar layer plate．Th e electrical images counted the plaques were obtained by screening the plaques plates．A representative area，in which the plaques were linked each other,was picked out from each image，an d han ded with watershed algorithm． Th e plaques linking together were separated into individual plaque alone in the images．And then，the images were counted with the method of growth algorithm based on area by computer．Th e exact effect of counting plaques was in agreement with artificial method ．It indicates the new method of counting plaques can be used in automatic counting by computer．