Microplastics (particles of plastics <5 mm) affect the physical, biological and hydrological properties of agricultural soil, as well as crop growth. We investigated the effect of the addition of three microplastics (high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene (PS)) at a concentration of 5% (w/w) to a silty loam soil on selected soil properties and growth of radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. sativus). Changes in the soil properties and radish growth in three microplastic treatments were compared with the control. Soil properties (bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, sorptivity, water repellency) were estimated for each treatment at the beginning and at the end of the radish growing period (GP). The bulk density was significantly lower in the HDPE and PVC treatments compared to the control within the measurement at the beginning of the GP and in all microplastic treatments compared to the control at the end of the GP. The values of hydraulic conductivity and water sorptivity did not show significant differences between any treatments within the measurement at the beginning of GP, but they were significantly higher in the HDPE treatment compared to the control at the end of the GP. The growth of radish was characterized by the plant biomass and effective quantum yield of Photosystem II (Y (II)). We did not find a statistically significant difference in the total biomass of radish between any of the experimental treatments, maybe due to used concentration of microplastics. The mean value of Y (II) was significantly higher in all microplastic treatments compared to control only within the last measurement at the end of the GP. A statistically significant change of Y(II) in all microplastic treatments may indicate functional shift in soil properties; however, the measured values of the soil characteristics have not shown the significant changes (except for the bulk density values in all microplastic treatments and hydraulic conductivity together with sorptivity in HDPE treatment within the measurement at the end of GP).

Over the past few decades, food production has been sufficient. However, climate change has already affected crop yields around the world. With climate change and population growth, threats to future food production come. Among the solutions to this crisis, breeding is deemed one of the most effective ways. However, traditional phenotyping in breeding is time-consuming as it requires thousands and thousands of individuals. Mechanisms and structures of stress tolerance have a great variability. Today, bigger emphasis is placed on the selection of crops based on genotype information and this still requires phenotypic data. Their use is limited by insufficient phenotypic data, including the information on stress photosynthetic responses. The latest research seeks to bring rapid, non-destructive imaging and sensing technology to agriculture, in order to greatly accelerate the in-field measurements of phenotypes and increase the phenotypic data. This paper presents a review of the imaging and sensing technologies for the field phenotyping to describe its development in the last few years.

Biochar is a widely known soil amendment. In the presented study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of biochar produced from Swedish willow ((Salix schwerinii x S. viminalis) x S. viminalis), ground into three different size fractions (<125µm, 125µm-2 mm and >2 mm) on selected hydrophysical properties of silty loam soils. Biochar was applied in the amount of 1.5% per weight of dry matter and the results were compared with pure silty loam soil (control). Data of biochar application impact on the selected hydrophysical properties of silty loam soil were statistically analyzed. In general, our results suggest that applied different size fractions of biochar does not have a statistically significant effect on particle density, however does have an effect on bulk density, porosity and saturated hydraulic conductivity of silty loam soil. With regard to bulk density, a statistically significant decrease (p<0.05) was observed compared to the control and it ranged from 4.18 to 8.13% from the smallest to the largest biochar fraction. The decrease of bulk density further led to a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in porosity of all three treatments. Saturated hydraulic conductivity tended to increase as the size fraction of the biochar used was progressively reduced. This increase ranged from 63.77% (for biochar with size fraction >2 mm) to 112.42% (for biochar with size fraction <125µm) compared to pure silty loam soil (control).