526-031 Agriculture Microbiology 1

Credit Points

Coordinator

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

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

• appreciate the many forms and roles of microbes in the world wide ecosystem and to enable them to fully participate in future courses in microbiology;
• culture, isolate, classify and characterise a range of bacteria and fungi;
• explain which tests to use in order to identify particular groups of bacteria and individual species with special properties;
• describe roles for microorganisms in the diary industry, in soil fertility, in the rumen, in the water and waste water industries and in microbially induced disease processes of plants, animals and man and how these diseases may be controlled;
• describe the biological nitrogen and sulphur cycles and have a particular knowledge of bacteria whose involvements in these cycles impact on Agriculture.

Assessment

A 3-hour written examination (65%); a 2-hour practical examination (15%); assignments and reports on practical work completed each no longer than 500 words (20%). An overall pass requires not only a total mark of at least 50% but also a minimum of 45% in the written examination.

Prescribed Texts

• Madigan M.T., Martinko J.M. and Parker J., Brock Biology of Microorganisms. 8th ed. 1996.
  or
  Prescott L.M., Harley J.P., and Klein D.A., Microbiology. 3rd ed. 1996.
• Department of Microbiology, Techniques Manual. 1998.