This informative publication presents the broad application of nuclear magnetic resonance to many of today's problem areas in agriculture. Solid-state NMR methodology is covered, with its applications to the study of intact agricultural matrices such as plant cell walls, photosynthetic chloroplast membranes, forages, wood cellulose, and soils. In vivo solution NMR methodology and its applications to the study of different functioning plant tissues and their biochemical responses to various pathological, physiological, and toxicological stresses are illustrated with examples using 31P, 13C, 23Na, and 15N resonance methods. An introductory chapter presents a review of the in vivo literature and some basic principles and requirements for carrying out such experiments. A special section focuses on state-of-the-art 13C and 1H high-resolution multidimensional methods and their application to the study of agricultural toxins; biologically active components, including their structures and biosyntheses, and dynamic measurements of relaxation phenomena associated with cross relaxation in water bound to food proteins.
