Agrophysics: Difference between revisions

Agrophysics is a new branch of science bordering on Physics and Agronomy, whose objects of study are the agroecosystem and the biological objects affected by human activity, studied and described using the methods of Physical Sciences.

Agrophysics is closely related to Biophysics, but is restricted to the Biology of the plants, animals and soil involved in agricultural activities and biodiversity. It is different from Biophysics in having the necessity of taking into account the specific features of the research objects, which involves the knowledge of Nutritional Science and Agricultural Technology, Biotechnology, Genetics etc.

Agrophysics is that branch of one, which deals with the discipline such as agroecology and study of agroecosystem, and biological objects using physical methods.

Agrophysics is close to certain Fundamental Sciences like Biology, whose methods and knowledge it utilizes (especially in the field of environmental ecology and plant physiology), and Physics, from which it acquires the research methods, especially that of physical experiment and model.

The scope of interest of Agrophysics is not focused solely on technical problems from Agronomy and on practical implementation of Sciences and that are aspects that makes it different from Agricultural Engineering which provides grounds for classifying Agrophysics as the fundamental sciences.

Physical models, closely related to Biophysics, are ready to solve either global or local aspects of behaviour of the complex ecosystems to be studied, including of energy consumption, food safety 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 emergnece of new branch - Agrophysics dealing this with Experimental Physics. The scope of the branch starting from Soil 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 and labeling concerns, considered distinct from the field of Nutrition for application in Food Science.

A research centre that is focused on the development of the Science is the Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin. cyt: "Agrophysics, utilizing the achievements of Exact Sciences for solving major problems of Agriculture, is involved in 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 productions."

• Agriculture
• Genomics
• Metagenomics
• Metabolomics
• Nitrogenomics
• Physics (Aristotle)
• Proteomics
• Soil plant atmosphere continuum

• Fundamentals of Agrophysics by P. V, etc. Vershinin, 1959, Publisher: IPST, ISBN 0-7065-0358-9
• 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.)
• 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., ISBN 5-222-07741-1 - Рекомендовано УМО по классическому университетскому образованию в качестве учебника для студентов высших учебных заведений, обучающихся по специальности и направлению высшего профессионального образования "Почвоведение"
• Encyclopedia of Soil Science, edts. Ward Chesworth, 2008, Uniw. of Guelph Canada, Publ. Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-3994-2
• Soil Aeration and its Role for Plants by J. Gliński, W. Stępniewski, 1985, Publisher: CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, USA, ISBN 0-8493-5250-9
• Soil Physical Condition and Plant Roots by J. Gliński, J. Lipiec, 1990, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, USA, ISBN 0-8493-6498-1
• Physical Methods in Agriculture. Approach to Precision and Quality, edts. J. Blahovec and M. Kutilek, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York 2002, ISBN 0-306-47430-1.
• Scientific Dictionary of Agrophysics: polish-English, polsko-angielski by R. Dębicki, J. Gliński, J. Horabik, R. T. Walczak - Lublin 2004, ISBN 83-87385-88-3

• Agrophysical Res. Inst. Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences
• Bohdan Dobrzański Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin
• Free Association of PMA Labs, Czech University of Agriculture, Prague
• International Agrophysics
• Polish Society of Agrophysics
• Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms