Preface Microbiology is the study of living organisms of microscopic size, which include bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa and the infectious agents at the borderline of life that are called viruses. It is concerned with their form, structure, reproduction, physiology, metabolism and classification. It includes the study of their distribution in nature, their relationship to each other living organisms, their effects on human beings and on other animals and plants, their abilities to make physical and chemical changes in our environment and their reactions to physical and chemical agents. Thus, microbiology is being a part of science has given birth to the several branches viz. Bacteriology, Mycology, Protozoology, Virology, Parasitology, Phycology or Algology, Microbial Morphology, Microbial Physiology, Microbial Taxonomy, Microbial Genetics, Molecular Biology, Microbial Ecology, Food microbiology, Dairy microbiology, Aquatic microbiology, Industrial microbiology etc. each being pursued as a specialty in itself. Agricultural microbiology is one among them, concerned with the relationships between microbes and crops, with an emphasis on improving yields and combating plant diseases. In agricultural education, the study of microbiology has undergone tremendous changes in the past few decades in all above mentioned areas. This covers all human endeavors in the broad sense as the acquisition, transmission and absorption of knowledge for the better means and understanding of the processes which lead to the scientific farming as we all know that agriculture is a backbone of economy all over the globe. “Agricultural Microbiology: A Ready Reckoner” is a multiple choice question book specially designed to improve the knowledge of students and to provide them a powerful knowledge and feedback in their progress and future opportunities. Thus, primarily this book can serve as a self-assessment guide for the students who are preparing for competitive examinations speciallyASRB-ARS Pre, ICAR-NET, ICAR- SRF, ICAR-JRF etc. and secondly, meant for those who appearing for UG, PG study in agriculture colleges/ agriculture institutes/ agriculture universities etc. The questions of this book are compiled from standard textbooks on History and Scope of Microbiology, Microbial Taxonomy, Microbial Ecology and Physiology, Microbial Genetics, Microbial Biotechnology, Food Microbiology, Soil Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbiological Techniques with the syllabus of ASRB-ARS Pre, ICAR-NET, ICAR- SRF, ICAR-JRF, SAU’s and other competitive examinations. The main objective of this book is to help students to enrich their powerful knowledge of microbiology because it is essential for the development of students in the area of agriculture science. We hope that this book certainly will increase the knowledge of microbiology in agriculture for cracking the examinations that are essential now a day to provide complete knowledge for the proper accurate, reliable and quicker assessment. This book will also be very useful for teachers and researchers, related to microbiology subject to stimulate the success to the student’s carrier. We request and welcome our esteemed Scientists, Teachers Students and Friends to send their valuable suggestions in further improvement of this book in the next issue.

Miscellaneous Questions