Effect of Sample Preparation Methods on Analytical Values of Some Micro- and Secondary Nutrients in Plant Tissues.

摘要

Plant tissues of rice and wheat crops (n = 5) collected at harvest time were wet-ashed in di-acid mixture [analytical-grade nitric acid (HNO3)-perchloric acid (HClO4), 3:1, v/v] on a sand bath at 200 pC or dry-ashed in a muffle furnace at 550 pC for 3 h in triplicate. The samples were analyzed for calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and molybdenum (Mo) using double-beam atomic absorption spectrophotometry (GBC-Avanta summation model) and for boron (B) by colorimetry (UV-VIS spectrophotometer, ECIL-GS 5705 model) using Azomethine-H procedure. As per the paired t-test, both wet-ashing and dry-ashing procedures resulted in statistically similar analytical values for B, Ca, Fe, and Mo. However, the mean coefficients of variation were higher with the wet-ashing procedure (6.19 to 9.64%) as compared to the dry-ashing procedure (2.14 to 3.45%). The dry-ashing procedure was found to be the best for routine chemical analysis of B and Mo in plant samples.