Monday, November 13, 2006
117-11
Economic Automated Nutrient Analysis For Soil and Plant Samples Using Flow Solution FS3100.
N. Liao1, W. Lipps1, C. Ranger1, X. Dai2, and D. Vietor2. (1) O. I. Analytical, P.O. Box 9010, College Station, TX 77842, (2) Dept of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M Univ, 2126 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
Increased demand for soil testing and plant analysis is driven by nutrient management regulation and associated requirements for environmental monitoring and farmer awareness of benefits from regular use of soil/plant analysis. Regular soil testing and plant analysis eliminate expenditures on unnecessary fertilizers and prevent excessive rates and losses of required plant nutrients to surface and groundwater. Concentrations of total N and NO3-N, total P and extractable P, and cations such as aluminum, magnesium, manganese and potassium are used to evaluate plant health, soil and water quality, and management of cropping systems. Manual or automated colorimetric methods are used for analysis of nutrient concentrations in plant, soil, and water samples. Time requirements and poor reproducibility of manual methods make it difficult to achieve goals for high precision and high throughput of samples and data during plant, soil, and water analysis. Although automated colorimetric methods are available for nutrient testing in soils and plants, no single instrument provides a comprehensive solution for the modern agronomy laboratory. This presentation will demonstrate improvements of automated nutrient analysis provided in a low cost and flexible instrument (Model FS3100) available from OI Analytical, College Station. Analyses of N, P, and cations in soil and runoff water will be reported and evaluated for samples from studies of compost and nutrient management during turfgrass production on the Texas A&M University Experimental Farm. The specific enhanced data quality and productivity benefits to the agronomy laboratory of the new FS3100 will be presented.