AGRI 401_Informatics in Agricultural Sciences

Course Content


Lectures

  1. Use of information technologies in agriculture
  2. Historical review of computer technology and review of agricultural technologies
  3. Information and communication technologies in the agricultural environment
  4. Information and information data
  5. Numerical systems
  6. Structure, hierarchical organization and categories of computer systems
  7. Basic network components
  8. Advanced Computer Applications for Agriculture and programming.
  9. Sensors Applied in Agricultural crops.
  10. Αutomation technologies in agriculture
  11. Robotics applications in agricultural crops
  12. Applications of computerized agricultural machinery to crops.
  13. Geomatics and Remote Sensing (Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)

Laboratory Exercises

  • Operating systems and computer networks
  • Advanced techniques
  • Introduction to the Internet
  • Information search
  • Computer software applications for modeling experimental data
  • Exploitation of the Internet in agricultural production
  • Computer applications in agricultural production

AGRI 402_Soil Science

Course Content


Lectures

  • Soil science as a science, the concept of soil, soil as part of the ecosystem.
  • Factors of soil formation
  • Particle size distribution, soil types, and their properties.
  • Soil structure, agglomerates, actual and apparent particle density, porosity, and its relation to soil particle size distribution and fertility.
  • Soil minerals with emphasis on clay minerals. Minerals disintegration.
  • Organic matter. Source and decomposition of organic matter.
  • Holding and moving soil water and air. Soil moisture uptake by plants.
  • Water and energy balance in the field. Evapotranspiration.
  • Adsorption and exchange of ions.
  • Soil reaction and buffering capacity.
  • Soil genesis and evolution: Soil factors and processes, soil profile and soil types.
  • Soil classification systems. Description of the soil profile. Soil color Soil horizons.
  • Soil maps. Mapping and description of cartographic units. Applications in Agriculture

Laboratory Exercises

  • Soil Sampling – Air Drying of Soil Samples, Preparation of Soil Samples for Laboratory Analysis – Determination of soil moisture- Safety Measures – Units of Measurement – Description of Devices and Instruments
  • Particle size distribution analysis
  • Soil density, bulk density
  • Organic matter
  • Calcium carbonate
  • pH, Apparent Electrical Conductivity – Water soluble salts in the soil

AGRI 403_Viticulture

Course Content


Lectures

  • Historical review of vitis.
  • Spread of vitis cultivation in Greece and in general throughout the world.
  • Vitis products and their nutritional value.
  • Effect of phylloxera on crop development.
  • Botanical classification of the genus Vitis.
  • Morphology and anatomy of vitis organs.
  • Specific elements of vitis physiology. Vegetative cycle (teaching, budding, growth, wood maturation, storage, hibernation). Reproductive phase (stages of flower development, flowering, pollination, fertilization, fruit set and vein development).
  • Micro-climate, soil and their effects on vegetation and production.
  • Viticultural characteristics and cultivation properties.
  • Varieties of winemaking. Table varieties. Special cultivation techniques to improve the quality of table varieties. Raisin varieties. Raisin technology.
  • Vineyard installation.
  • Irrigation and vitis growth.
  • Inorganic nutrition, fertilization, and nutrient deficiency/excess problems.

AGRI 404 Agricultural Physical Chemistry

Course Content


Lectures

Colligative properties of solutions (2 Lectures):

  • Vapor pressure
  • Boiling point
  • Freezing point
  • Osmotic pressure
  • Fractional distillation

Chemical Thermodynamics (3 Lectures) 

  • First and second laws
  • Gibbs free energy
  • Chemical potentials
  • Chemical equilibria
  • Models of static and dynamic equilibrium

Phase Changes (1 Lecture)

  • Phases and components, Degrees of freedom
  • Phase balance. Interfacial tension.
  • Phase equilibrium diagrams
  • Phase transitions. Glassy transition. Crystallization.
  • Influence of phase shifts on food quality. Food structure.

Dispersion Systems (2 Lectures)

  • Gels – Foams. Emulsions and their stability.
  • Rheological – Mechanical – Food viscoelastic properties.
  • Diffusion of small molecules into food and polymers (nanofertilizers in Agriculture). Microencapsulation and controlled release of active substances.
  • Electrochemical systems-Ions in solution
  • Electrical phenomena – application to clay-water systems

Chemical Kinetics (1 Lectures)

  • First and second order reactions
  • Integrated rate laws
  • Reaction rate theories
  • Steady state approximation
  • Kinetics of food reactions. Finding out the expected shelf life of food.
  • Chain reactions (Polymer Chemistry)
  • Catalysis

Food processing (2 Lectures):

  • Water activity, the relationship of water with food safety and quality.
  • Food dehydration procedures. Freeze-drying.
  • Food production and packaging processes.
  • Heat treatment, UHT, HTST, Aseptic packaging, Pasteurization, Sterilization.
  • New Food Production Processes (nanofoods), Food Extrusion.
  • Preservation of vitamins in foods.

Instrumental analytical techniques:(1 Lecture):

  • Analytical Techniques
  • Spectroscopic Techniques
  • Chromatographic Techniques
  • Molecular Techniques

Laboratory Exercises

  1. Instrumental analytical techniques
  2. Measurement of osmotic pressure and osmotic potential.
  3. Phase equilibrium diagrams
  4. Determination of Vapor Pressure – Normal Boiling Point & Clausius-Clapeyron Equation
  5. Fractional distillation
  6. Chemical equilibria.Models of static equilibrium
  7. First and second order reactions. Models of dynamic equilibrium Determination of Shelf Life of Foods.
  8. Isotherm curves.
  9. Catalysis-Types of Catalysts
  10. Water activity-Moisture Sorption Isotherm of Foods
  11. Chain reactions (Polymer Chemistry)
  12. Heat treatment, UHT, HTST, Aseptic packaging, Pasteurization, Sterilization
  13. Phytochemicals: Extraction, Isolation, and Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Extracts of Medicinal Plants

AGRI 405_Biochemistry

Course Content


Lectures

  1. Introduction to Biochemistry.
  2. Structure and function of proteins.
  3. Exploring proteins.
  4. Nucleic acids and the flow of genetic information.
  5. Exploring the genes.
  6. Carbohydrates.
  7. Lipids.
  8. Cell membranes.
  9. Enzymes: basic principles and kinetics.
  10. Basic concepts of metabolism.
  11. Glycolysis and gluconeogenesis.
  12. The citric acid cycle.
  13. Oxidative phosphorylation.

Laboratory exercises

  • General guidelines for experimental research.
  • Quantitative biochemical analysis.
  • Determination of the total protein concentration by Bradford method.
  • Determination of catalase activity.
  • Determination of lipid peroxidation.
  • Determination of proteins’ molecular weight by gel filtration chromatography.

AGRI 406_General Horticulture

Course Content


Lectures

  1. Evolution of vegetable market in Greece and their nutritional value.
  2. Botanic taxonomy of vegetables; types of gardening.
  3. Climate requirements of vegetables.
  4. Soil requirements and soil amelioration
  5. Propagation techniques of vegetables. Grafting.
  6. Plant hardening and transplantation to the field.
  7. Techniques of direct planting in soil and growth development.
  8. Growth physiology and flower pollination / fertilization.
  9. Rotation techniques.
  10. Fertilization and irrigation of vegetables.
  11. Pest, diseases and weed control.
  12. Vegetable seed production.
  13. Harvest, postharvest processes and fresh vegetable distribution on the market.

Laboratory exercises

  1. Seed identification of vegetables.
  2. Seed germination; abiotic requirements.
  3. Propagation techniques
  4. Hardening and seedling types.
  5. Transplanting and direct sowing.
  6. Postharvest process in fresh vegetables.