Lasers in Agriculture

This text introduces the reader to the fundamentals of optical phenomena and elements of spectroscopy, the main principles and mechanisms of laser action, properties of laser radiation and practical applications of the laser in various branches of agriculture. Applications in the following are considered: agronomic plant-growing (optical and laser spectroscopy of plants at single leaf and canopy levels); cattle breeding (laser spectroscopy of animal hair, determination of milk contents, analysis of animal sperm mobility); genetics and selection (laser photobiology of DNA, flow cytometry of sperm); veterinary medicine (laser diagnostics, therapy and surgery of farm animals); poultry farming (egg quality evaluation, laser control of bird feathering); honey breeding (honey quality evaluation); agroengineering (laser welding, cutting, drilling of mechanical details, laser systems of navigation); and monitoring of agrosphere (laser monitoring and remote sensing of agrosphere, laser meteorology).
 
This text introduces the reader to the fundamentals of optical phenomena and elements of spectroscopy, the main principles and mechanisms of laser action, properties of laser radiation and practical applications of the laser in various branches of agriculture. Applications in the following are considered: agronomic plant-growing (optical and laser spectroscopy of plants at single leaf and canopy levels); cattle breeding (laser spectroscopy of animal hair, determination of milk contents, analysis of animal sperm mobility); genetics and selection (laser photobiology of DNA, flow cytometry of sperm); veterinary medicine (laser diagnostics, therapy and surgery of farm animals); poultry farming (egg quality evaluation, laser control of bird feathering); honey breeding (honey quality evaluation); agroengineering (laser welding, cutting, drilling of mechanical details, laser systems of navigation); and monitoring of agrosphere (laser monitoring and remote sensing of agrosphere, laser meteorology).