Agrophysics is a branch of science bordering on

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

and

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, whose objects of study are the agroecosystem - the biological objects,

biotope A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of flora (plants), plants and fauna (animals), animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term habitat (ecology), "habitat", which ...

and biocoenosis affected by human activity, studied and described using the methods of physical sciences. Using the achievements of the exact sciences to solve major problems in agriculture, agrophysics involves the study of materials and processes occurring in the production and processing of agricultural crops, with particular emphasis on the condition of the environment and the quality of farming materials and food production. Agrophysics is closely related to

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

, but is restricted to the

of the

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

and an

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

involved in

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

activities and

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. It is different from biophysics in having the necessity of taking into account the specific features of

and biocoenosis, which involves the knowledge of nutritional science and

agroecology Agroecology is an academic discipline that studies ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear can suggest new management approaches in agroecosystems. The term can refer to a science, ...

, agricultural technology,

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

etc. The needs of agriculture, concerning the past experience study of the local complex soil and next plant-atmosphere systems, lay at the root of the emergence of a new branch – agrophysics – dealing this with experimental physics. The scope of the branch starting from

soil science Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, soil classification, classification and Soil survey, mapping; Soil physics, physical, Soil chemistry, chemical, Soil biology, biologica ...

(physics) and originally limited to the study of relations within the soil environment, expanded over time onto influencing the properties of agricultural crops and produce as foods and raw postharvest materials, and onto the issues of quality,

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

and labeling concerns, considered distinct from the field of nutrition for application in food science. Research centres focused on the development of the agrophysical sciences include the Institute of Agrophysics,

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, and the Agrophysical Research Institute,

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in St. Petersburg.

References

''Encyclopedia of Agrophysics''
in series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series edts. Jan Glinski, Jozef Horabik, Jerzy Lipiec, 2011, Publisher: Springer, *''Encyclopedia of Soil Science'', edts. Ward Chesworth, 2008, Uniw. of Guelph Canada, Publ. Springer, *''АГРОФИЗИКА - AGROPHYSICS'' by Е. В. Шеин (J.W. Chein), В. М. Гончаров (W.M. Gontcharow), Ростов-на-Дону ( Rostov-on-Don), Феникс (Phoenix), 2006, - 399 c., - Рекомендовано УМО по классическому университетскому образованию в качестве учебника для студентов высших учебных заведений, обучающихся по специальности и направлению высшего профессионального образования "Почвоведение" *''Scientific Dictionary of Agrophysics: polish-English, polsko-angielski'' by R. Dębicki, J. Gliński, J. Horabik, R. T. Walczak - Lublin 2004, *''Physical Methods in Agriculture. Approach to Precision and Quality'', edts. J. Blahovec and M. Kutilek, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York 2002, . *''Soil Physical Condition and Plant Roots'' by J. Gliński, J. Lipiec, 1990, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, USA, *''Soil Aeration and its Role for Plants'' by J. Gliński, W. Stępniewski, 1985, Publisher: CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, USA, *''Fundamentals of Agrophysics'' (Osnovy agrofiziki) by A. F. Ioffe, I. B. Revut, Petr Basilevich Vershinin, 1966, English : Publisher: Jerusalem, Israel Program for Scientific Translations; (available from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Va.) *''Fundamentals of Agrophysics'' by P. V, etc. Vershinin, 1959, Publisher: IPST,

External links

Agrophysical Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060108064756/http://pmalabs.tf.czu.cz/ Free Association of PMA Labs, Czech University of Agriculture, Praguebr>International Agrophysics
* ttp://www.pta.lublin.pl/english.htm Polish Society of Agrophysics* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050914193229/http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb9902.htm Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms {{Authority control Agronomy Applied and interdisciplinary physics

See also

References

External links