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Index >> Soil Microorganisms >> Development of Soil Microbiology

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Soil Microorganisms Development of Soil Microbiology Significant Developments in Soil Microbiology Biological Nitrogen Fixation of Microorganisms Bacteria Cell Wall Actinomycetes Fungi Fungal Cell Structure Myxomycetes

Development of Soil Microbiology

	Development of Soil Microbiology The fertility soil depends not only on its chemical composition, but also on the qualitative and quantitative nature of microorganisms inhabiting it. The microorganisms inhabiting soil can be classified into bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi; algae and protozoa and the branch of science dealing with them and their activities in soil is known as soil microbiology. Unlike soil science whose origin can be traced back to Roman and Aryan times, soil microbiology emerged as a distinct branch of soil science only in 1838 after the French agricultural chemist and farmer, J.B. Boussingault showed that legumes can obtain nitrogen from air when grown in soil which was not heated. Fifty years later, a Dutch scientist, M.W. Beijerinck isolated bacteria from nodules on legume roots. Between these two major developments the science of medical bacteriology had, no doubt, been well established thanks to Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur who enunciated the fundamental principles of germ theory of disease.
Strictly speaking, the development of microbiology as a branch of science can be dated back to the time of people who ground lenses from glass and saw microorganisms through them. Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, a linen draper from Holland (1632-1723) is credited with having made the first authentic drawings of microorganisms. The theory of spontaneous generation of microorganisms which had its roots in the age of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) and which was revoked by the so-called experimental evidence of John Needham (17131781) was shattered by the conclusive experimental findings of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). This was followed by Robert Koch's (1843-1910) famous Koch postulates concerning the authenticity of microorganisms as causative agents of disease. In 1878, Joseph Lister first obtained pure cultures of bacteria by serial dilutions in liquid media. Ten years later, in 1888, as mentioned earlier, the root nodule bacteria were obtained in pure culture by Beijerinck.
The celebrated Russian microbiologist, SN. Winogradsky (1856-1953) discovered the autotrophic mode of life among bacteria and established the microbiological transformation of nitrogen and sulphur. The enrichment culture technique involving the successive transfers of microorganisms growing in desired substrate for the isolation of sparsely occurring unusual types of microorganisms was the innovation of both Beijerinck and Winogradsky in their attempt to unravel more and more Colonies of Bacteria, Actinomycetes and Fungi Appearing on Agar plates, from aliquos of Soil Dilutions
specialized types of microorganisms from soil. Thus, Beijerinck and Winogradsky may rightly be considered as pioneers in soil bacteriology, whose names can be equated with those of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur in the field of medical and general microbiology.

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Algae Protozoa of Microorganisms Bacteriophges Fungal Viruses Microscopy Compound Light Microscope Bright Field Microscope Dark Field Microscope Fluorescence Microscope Ultraviolet-UV Microscope Phase Contrast Microscope Electron Microscope (EM)

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