University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

The second edition of the laboratory guide for identification of plant pathogenic bacteria has been completely rewritten. The original concept. developed in 1978 by the APS Bacteriology committee, was to continually update the manual by adding new information in the form of additional pages. This, however, never materialized. Because a considerable amount of newe information has become available since1980, the authors and the bacteriology committee decided that a second edition was needed. The overall organization has been retained. In addition to rewriting each section, several additional sections have been added. Since 1980 there has been a big increase in interest in plant pathogeic bacteria due in large part to advancements made in biotechnology. Many molecular biologists are working with plant pathogenic bacteria and need information on identification, working with plasmids has become so routine that a section on extraction of plasmids has been added to the agrobacterium chapter. New chapters on streptomyces, bacillus, and clostridium have been added. These organisms were left out of the first edition because so little was known about them. Methods for identification of rhizosphere pseudomonads have been added to the pseudomonas chapter because of the growing interest in biological control. Mehods for preservation of cultures and an appendix for chemicals have been added to each chapter for convenience. Many of these changes and additions are a direct result of suggestions sent in by readers throuuout the world. This interest in improving the manual is greatly appreciated. Letters can be sent to me or directly to each author.