Description

Agricultural microbiology is a branch of microbiology dealing with plant-associated microbes and plant and animal diseases. It also deals with the microbiology of soil fertility, such as microbial degradation of organic matter and soil nutrient transformations. Microbiology in general, has very diverse utility in agriculture, horticulture, animal sciences, fisheries and forestry and hence studied as a different branch termed as agriculture microbiology. A big number of harmful microorganisms called pathogens are responsible for majority of plant diseases. Large numbers of these microbial pathogens are routinely found in the soil, air and water and can infect the plant through the roots and leaves. Getting inside into the causes, mode of dissemination, prevalence and control of diseases requires basic understanding of microbiology under sub-discipline called plant pathology or phytopathology. Industrial microbiology is a branch of biotechnology that applies microbial sciences to create industrial products in mass quantities, often using microbial cell factories. There are multiple ways to manipulate a microorganism in order to increase maximum product yields. Introduction of mutations into an organism may be accomplished by introducing them to mutagens. Another way to increase production is by gene amplification, this is done by the use of plasmids, and vectors. The plasmids and/ or vectors are used to incorporate multiple copies of a specific gene that would allow more enzymes to be produced that eventually cause more product yield. The content of the book is an exhaustive reference resource for soil microbiologist, agricultural scientists, academia, policymakers, industrial microbiologists pursuing teaching and research in these domains.