Improvements for digestion of whole grains and plant ground matter for phosphorus and potassium

TY - JOUR

T1 - Improvements for digestion of whole grains and plant ground matter for phosphorus and potassium

AU - Dolgin, B.

AU - Schechter, I.

AU - Asido, S.

AU - Bonfil, D. J.

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - Sample digestion is the most time-consuming step in the elemental analysis of agricultural and food products. Moreover, a proper digestion procedure is crucial, because it affects the accuracy and precision of the analysis. In this study, a digestion procedure using sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as digestion reagents was optimized for whole grains (chickpea, wheat, and safflower) and dry matter (wheat straw and pea). Several digestion parameters as quantity of digestion reagents either H2SO4 (2 or 3.5 mL) or H2O 2 per cycle (0.5, 1, 2, or 4 mL) needed for reaction, predigestion time (5 min to overnight) and postdigestion necessarily were tested. The basic optimized procedure was 1) predigestion in 2 mL H2O2 for 10 min, 2) careful addition of 2 mL of H2SO4 followed by waiting for 5 min, and 3) performance of two digestion cycles with 2 mL H 2O2 per cycle; no postdigestion step was needed. The varied conditions ensured fastest digestion, without compromising the final accuracy and precision. The digestion duration was reduced from 90-240 min to 30-45 min, and accurate results were obtained for a wide range (0.06-0.5%) of phosphorus (P) concentrations. The proposed method is suitable for determination of phosphorus and potassium (K) in complicated crop samples containing high percentages of fat, proteins, or starch, particularly in whole grains, seeds, and ground samples. The procedure is also applicable to ground samples of dry matter. Hence, there are many potential uses for the suggested improved method.

AB - Sample digestion is the most time-consuming step in the elemental analysis of agricultural and food products. Moreover, a proper digestion procedure is crucial, because it affects the accuracy and precision of the analysis. In this study, a digestion procedure using sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as digestion reagents was optimized for whole grains (chickpea, wheat, and safflower) and dry matter (wheat straw and pea). Several digestion parameters as quantity of digestion reagents either H2SO4 (2 or 3.5 mL) or H2O 2 per cycle (0.5, 1, 2, or 4 mL) needed for reaction, predigestion time (5 min to overnight) and postdigestion necessarily were tested. The basic optimized procedure was 1) predigestion in 2 mL H2O2 for 10 min, 2) careful addition of 2 mL of H2SO4 followed by waiting for 5 min, and 3) performance of two digestion cycles with 2 mL H 2O2 per cycle; no postdigestion step was needed. The varied conditions ensured fastest digestion, without compromising the final accuracy and precision. The digestion duration was reduced from 90-240 min to 30-45 min, and accurate results were obtained for a wide range (0.06-0.5%) of phosphorus (P) concentrations. The proposed method is suitable for determination of phosphorus and potassium (K) in complicated crop samples containing high percentages of fat, proteins, or starch, particularly in whole grains, seeds, and ground samples. The procedure is also applicable to ground samples of dry matter. Hence, there are many potential uses for the suggested improved method.

KW - Plant matter

KW - Sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide

KW - Wet digestion

KW - Whole grains

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=22744438542&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1081/CSS-200062437

DO - 10.1081/CSS-200062437

M3 - 文章

AN - SCOPUS:22744438542

SN - 0010-3624

VL - 36

SP - 1747

EP - 1761

JO - Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

JF - Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

IS - 13-14

ER -