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The use of microorganisms for large scale industrial processes is being used since time immemorial, which was long before the realization of the activities of the microorganisms. For centuries, beer, wine, vinegar, soy-sauce and other fermented foods like bread and curd were produced through spontaneous fermentation of naturally occurring microorganisms or the use of carry over microbial seeds from the previous batch of fermentation. The diverse catalytic activities of microorganisms are being used more and more widely to perform specific chemical reactions in the industrial production processes.

Microbial biotechnology was escalated to a new height in the eighties when multifold developments have been realized in fermentation technology, which lead to considerable savings in capital, energy and labor costs. The scientific breakthroughs like gene manipulation, genomics and proteomics have made the industrial manufacturing of human growth hormones, interferons, vaccines etc feasible.

The basic principles of the subject are elaborately explained and discussed in well organized twenty chapters in this book. The attempt is done that this book should prove to be a useful source of information for both undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses of Microbiology and biotechnology. The contents of this book will also be useful to the students of pharmaceutical science and technology, food science and technology, dairy science and technology, agricultural microbiology and biotechnology, biochemical engineering and other fermentation related vocational courses. This book will also be useful as a reference source to get first hand information of the subject for the people who are working in fermentation based and biotechnology based industries.