Physical Methods in Agriculture

The papers in this book deal with both the physical theories and their applications in the full broad range of agriculture: soils, their parameters and transport processes, soil technology, precision agriculture, agricultural products and their processing, testing and storage and products, genetic modification of agricultural plants. In all those subjects the physical aspects are studied. The majority of the papers belong to the category of interdisciplinary sciences. The papers are divided into three groups. In the first group are papers dealing with soil physical properties. The research was aimed at direct observation of soil porous systems from which the appropriate theory of transport was derived. Special attention was paid to estimation errors of physical parameters. High accuracy in determination of data monitoring location is reflected by papers on allocation agriculture, precision farming. The second group contains papers with experimental and theoretical improvement in product properties knowledge. The possibilities of application of such methods in modern genetic engineering are discussed too. The third group of papers represents recent physical approach to technological properties of fruits, especially in relation to their pre-harvest and storage softening, as well as to their susceptibility to damage.