AGRICULTURE MICROBIOLOGY Lecture Notes - Nitrogen Fixation, Arthrobacter, Martinus Beijerinck
Document Summary
The field of soil microbiology was explored during the very last part of 19th century. The establishment of the principal roles that microorganisms play in the biologically important cycles of matter on earth: the cycles of nitrogen, sulphur and carbon was largely the work of two men, s. winogradsky (1856-1953) and m. w. Almost equally important was the work of m. w. Beijerinck, a hollander, who isolated the agents of symbiotic (1888) and non-symbiotic aerobic (1901) nitrogen fixation. However, the greatest contribution of beijerinck was a new and profoundly important technique: enrichment culture technique: to isolate and study various physiological types of various microorganisms from natural samples through the use of specific culture media and incubation conditions. Bacteria- more dominant group of microorganisms in the soil and equal to one half of the microbial biomass in soil. Actinomycetes - intermediate group between bacteria and fungi. Many of them are known to produce antibiotics.
