1. Yogranjan Yogranjan has been awarded graduate and postgraduate degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, and honoured with Ph.D. in Agricultural Biotechnology from the MG Rural University, Satna, M.P. Having a brilliant academic record, He has been awarded the CSIR-JRF in the subject of Life Sciences. He has more than 12 years experience of teaching and research. Currently, he is working as Scientist-Agricultural Biotechnology in JNKVV, Madhya Pradesh. He also teaches different courses viz; Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and Intellectual property rights to the graduate and postgraduate students and currently serves as the coordinator of the project funded by Ministry of HRD, Government of India. He has participated in various global programmes including workshops, trainings and multiyear courses organized in Israel, The Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. He has published over 25 research papers, 6 book chapters, and several articles in National and International journals. Besides, he has been editor of several International and National journals. He has authored a textbook on Geo-informatics, Precision farming and Nanotechnology and edited a book on Technological Options for Climate Risks Management in sustainable pulse production. He has life membership in many National and International societies and actively associated with several scientific as well as professional forums. 2. Pranay Kumar Pranay Kumar obtained his Ph.D., M.V.Sc., B.V.Sc and A.H. from prestigious Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujrat (India). He has more than 14 years of professional experience in research, teaching, and disease diagnosis in the field of veterinary microbiology. He has worked at several national and international academic and research institutions. He has been a faculty member for three years (2015-2018) at College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (CAFF), Fiji National University (FNU), Fiji. He has worked on various aspects of microorganisms including mycoplasma agalactiae and bovine herpes virus-1. He has very extensively worked on many zoonotic agents like bacillus anthracis, brucella abortus, salmonella sp., e. coli etc. He has several scholarships and awards to his credit. IASc-INSA-NASI Science Academies’ Summer Research Fellowship Program, DBT Junior Research Fellowship and MASHAV from Israel are few of them. He has published several research papers and submitted 11 gene sequences in Genebank (NCBI) database. He has attended various global programmes including postgraduate courses, workshops, and trainings. He is a life member of Indian Virological Society, Indian Association of Veterinary Microbiologists and Immunologists, Society for Biosafety and many other professional societies.
<p>The undergraduate course curriculum offered in Central and State Agricultural Universities has been revised through the V deans` committee of ICAR. Many of the courses have been reframed for the first time in the curriculum of the undergraduate course. The course entitled Agricultural Microbiology is one of such courses having coverage of fundamental but diverse aspects of agricultural microbiology including bacteriology, plant pathology, soil microbiology, food microbiology, microbial genetics, and microbial biotechnology etc. The book “Essentials of Agricultural Microbiology” has been framed in a holistic view and strictly in adherence to the syllabus recommended by V Deans` committee of ICAR for the new course curriculum of Central and State agricultural Universities. Although, several books on microbiology are already available but they all seem to be very exhaustive and detailed to be read by the typical agricultural student who has to keep up with several classes of other subjects in parallel. On the contrary, a number of books are also there in the market which are insufficient and are full of irrelevant information on microbiology not useful to an agricultural student. This book has been compiled in a very specific manner keeping in view the diversity of study materials of the course and academic base of the agricultural students. The proposed manuscript covers all fundamental aspects of agricultural microbiology in a well explicit manner and aptly illustrated with tables, explicit figures, and photographs throughout the text to help students understand and retain information. It also sums up all again through exercises in the last of every chapter. Although the book has been designed to teach undergraduate agricultural students, it will also serve as both a textbook for other students having the parallel course. The book will also serve as a review tool as well as supplementary reading materials for many competitive examinations.<br></p>
