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Simplification of the standard method for determination of non‐exchangeable NH 4 −N in soil
Author(s) -
Zhang Yangsong,
Scherer Heinrich W.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
zeitschrift für pflanzenernährung und bodenkunde
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 0044-3263
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.1998.3581610203
Subject(s) - boiling , centrifuge , reagent , microwave oven , reproducibility , soil water , chemistry , microwave , soil test , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , environmental science , soil science , organic chemistry , physics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
The widely‐used Silva‐Bremner method for determining non‐ exchangeable NH 4 −N in the soil was modified so as to reduce reagent requirement and the time taken to carry out the analyses. In the modification, boiling the mixture of soil and KOBr on a hot plate was replaced with heating the soil/KOBr mixture, directly placed in centrifuge tubes, in a boiling water bath or a microwave oven. The best procedure is to keep the soil/KOBr mixture for 10 minutes in the water bath or for 10 minutes at 50% of full power in a microwave oven. The modified method gave similar values to the standard method on 4 quite different soils and also slightly increased reproducibility.