526-031 Agriculture Microbiology 1

Credit Points:

Coordinator:

Timetable:

Contact:

Objectives:

To enable students to appreciate the roles of bacteria, fungi and viruses in human health and agricultural practices and how to isolate and study their properties.

By the end of the course students should be able to:

Use appropriate procedures to grow, isolate, classify and characterise a range of bacteria and fungi;

Explain what tests to use in order to identify particular groups of bacteria and individual species with special properties;

Describe roles for microorganisms in the dairy industry; in soil fertility; in the rumen; in plant, animal and human disease processes and in the water and waste water industries;

Describe the biological nitrogen and sulphur cycles and have a particular knowledge of bacteria whose involvements in these cycles impacts on Agriculture

Content:

Culture methods and methods used for the identification of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Properties of groups of bacteria associated with human, animal and plant welfare and disease. Use of sterilisation and disinfection procedures and the proper use of antibiotics to control microbial growth. Bacteriological aspects of the conversion of plant cells into animal cells, milk, water and waste water treatment. Microbial ecology and bacteriological aspects of soil fertility.

Assessment:

Prescribed Texts:

• Brock T D et. al., Biology of Microorganisms, 7th ed. Prentice Hall.
• Prescott, Harley and Kleen, Microbiology, 2nd ed. WCB.