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Microwave absorption properties are studied for flexible materials based on periodic gratings made of carbon nanotube (CNT) threads. Resonant absorption is observed by free space measurements in the frequency range from 26.5 to 40 GHz. Materials comprised of CNT thread gratings with different periods, a metal backplate, and an intermediate dielectric layer exhibit significant reflection losses (less than −45 dB). The shifts of peaks on the absorption spectra caused by changes in the thickness and rotations of the samples indicate the high sensitivity of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A technology for millimetric moisture-content measurement has been proposed for implementation in plant breeding by the method of background traits, which requires selecting plants with medium or low moisture. This technology, which is based on radiophysical methods, allows nondestructive lifetime measurements to be made over short and long periods of time, up to continuous ones. Preliminary measurements of the green onion moisture have shown that the moisture measurement error does not exceed 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic and breeding study shows inefficiency of the analysis of the genotype-environment interaction (GEI) in plants at a molecular level, since the GEI effect completely vanishes on such a level being an emergent property resulting from the interaction of gene products with labile (over days, weeks, or months) limiting environmental factors. Such a study should be carried out at higher system levels, in particular, at the next stages of life organization (organismal, population, ecological, and phytocenotic). Since the most powerful effect for an increase in the plant productivity and yield (GEI) cannot be traced at the molecular level, knowledge of the molecular structures of the genome without knowledge of the dynamics of limiting environmental factors and the interaction of gene products with them does not contribute to the development of high technologies for ecological genetic increase in plant productivity and yield. The existing data show that rapid methods for measuring traits of plants that comprehensively characterize complex dynamic system (in particular, GEI) can be created with the aid of interdisciplinary approaches, primarily, using physical experimental methods. In the framework of such an approach, we propose application of millimeter-wave spectroscopy, which is very sensitive to changes in the water supply of plant tissues, for breeding of drought-resistant plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]