Low frequency electric properties utilization in agriculture and food treatment

Abstract

Determination of electrical properties is utilized in a wide range of disciplines and industries. A brief compendium of agricultural materials and food electrical properties exploitation is presented in this paper. The measurement of electrical con- ductivity or resistivity can be utilized at investigation of cell membrane properties on microscopic level. Moreover the electrical conductivity have utilization at the salinity of soils and irrigation water determination. Biological material properties are determined from their leachates too. The conductivity measurement are applied for determination of various characteristics of agricultural ma- terials and food, for example for determination of the frost sensitiveness, of chilling and freezing tolerance, of moisture content, of seeds germination, of mechanical stress, of pasteurization, of other properties of grains, seeds, meat, sugar, milk, wood, soil, fruit and vegetable, infected food, … The utilization of dielectric properties are also described; for example in agricultural materials and food quality sensing (moisture content, maturity of fruit, freshness of eggs, potential insect control in seeds, radio frequency heating, …). The classification of permittivity measurement techniques at the low frequencies is mentioned.