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Abstract

Future Perspective of In Situ Soil Analysis †

1
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia
2
School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Presented at the International Conference EcoBalt 2023 “Chemicals & Environment”, Tallinn, Estonia, 9–11 October 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 92(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092010
Published: 21 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of International Conference EcoBalt 2023 "Chemicals & Environment")
Soil health monitoring is becoming progressively more important to meet the needs of sustainable agriculture and climate policy goals. Portable capillary electrophoresis (CE) devices could be used to monitor micro and macro nutrients available to plants in soil in real time as anions and cations to make informed decisions about the need for fertilization. These devices could be considered precise, cheap and fast alternatives to time-consuming laboratory analyses and sensors that are currently on the market that can determine only N, P and K, and not other important macro or micro elements [1,2,3,4,5]. Method development for determining cations in soil samples was carried out using commercial CE device coupled to a contactless conductivity detector (C4D) with the intent to later implement the developed method on a portable CE device. The separation of eight cations (NH4+, K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+) was achieved using a capillary with an effective length of 47.5 cm and an inner diameter of 50 μm. Briefly, a 6 M acetic acid solution was used as a background electrolyte, and we used an applied voltage of 15 kV. The duration of analysis was 20 min (including 3 min of pre-washing). Linearity for analytes was determined to be in the range of 1–10 mM, which encompasses the limit of detection (LoD) (0.1–0.9 mM) and limit of quantification (LoQ) (0.3–1.8 mM) for the analytes. The extraction of cations was tested from 1 min up to 24 h using distilled water and 0.01 M CaCl2 [6,7]. No remarkable differences in extraction recoveries were observed within the tested timeframe. Therefore, 1–3 min was suggested as an optimum extraction time for the in situ extraction procedure. The developed analysis method is suitable for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of eight cations extracted from soil and can be implemented on portable CE devices. Further optimization of simple and quick sample preparation must be carried out so that it could be easily used directly on the field prior to analysis.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, J.G., M.V. and J.M.-Š.; methodology, M.-L.L. and P.J.; validation, M.-L.L., P.J. and M.V.; hardware, M.R., J.G. and J.M.-Š.; formal analysis, M.-L.L. and P.J.; investigation, M.-L.L. and P.J.; resources, J.G. and J.M.-Š.; data curation, M.-L.L. and P.J.; writing—original draft preparation, M.-L.L.; writing—review and editing, R.S. and J.M.-Š.; visualization, M.-L.L. and M.R.; supervision, R.S. and J.M.-Š.; project administration, J.M.-Š.; funding acquisition, J.M.-Š. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Environmental Investment Centre (KIK), grant number Kliima.3.01.22-0101 (“SmartAGRO”), and Estonian Research Council, grant number MOBJD1015.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

Our partners in Ukraine, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Agriculture (Farming) Enterprise “Sophiya S+”, and Agriculture (Farming) Enterprise “Roksolana”, are acknowledged for providing soil samples.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

References

  1. Environmental XPRT, Renke—Model RS-NPK-TR—Soil NPK Sensor. Available online: https://www.environmental-expert.com/products/model-rs-npk-tr-soil-npk-sensor-784865 (accessed on 31 May 2023).
  2. Teralytic Soil Probe. Available online: https://teralytic.com/soil-probe/ (accessed on 31 May 2023).
  3. Paul-Tech Soil Station Service. Available online: https://paul-tech.com/paul-tech-soil-station-service/ (accessed on 31 May 2023).
  4. AgroCares Nutrient Scanner. Available online: https://www.agrocares.com/scanners/ (accessed on 31 May 2023).
  5. Bruker, Application Note N526, Online Quality Control of Mineral Fertilizers Using FT-NIR Spectroscopy. Available online: https://www.bruker.com/en/meta/forms/bopt-form-pages/thank-you-an-n526-form/_jcr_content/root/contentpar/twocolumns_copy_copy/contentpar-1/calltoaction.download-asset.pdf/primaryButton/AN_N526_Fertilizer_online_EN.pdf (accessed on 31 May 2023).
  6. Pontes, F.V.M.; Carneiro, M.C.; Vaitsman, D.S.; Monteiro, M.I.C.; da Silva, L.I.D.; de Souza, E.D.M.F.; Neto, A.A. Fast and simultaneous ultrasound-assisted extraction of exchangeable-NH4+, NO3 and NO2 species from soils followed by ion chromatography determination. Chem. Speciat. Bioavailab. 2012, 24, 229. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Stanišić, S.M.; Ignjatović, L.M.; Manojlović, D.; Dojčinović, B. The comparison of sample extraction procedures for the determination of cations in soil by IC and ICP-AES. Cent. Eur. J. Chem. 2011, 9, 481–484. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
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MDPI and ACS Style

Leinus, M.-L.; Jõul, P.; Růžička, M.; Gorbatšova, J.; Vaher, M.; Shimmo, R.; Mazina-Šinkar, J. Future Perspective of In Situ Soil Analysis. Proceedings 2023, 92, 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092010

AMA Style

Leinus M-L, Jõul P, Růžička M, Gorbatšova J, Vaher M, Shimmo R, Mazina-Šinkar J. Future Perspective of In Situ Soil Analysis. Proceedings. 2023; 92(1):10. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092010

Chicago/Turabian Style

Leinus, Mari-Liis, Piia Jõul, Martin Růžička, Jelena Gorbatšova, Merike Vaher, Ruth Shimmo, and Jekaterina Mazina-Šinkar. 2023. "Future Perspective of In Situ Soil Analysis" Proceedings 92, no. 1: 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092010

APA Style

Leinus, M. -L., Jõul, P., Růžička, M., Gorbatšova, J., Vaher, M., Shimmo, R., & Mazina-Šinkar, J. (2023). Future Perspective of In Situ Soil Analysis. Proceedings, 92(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023092010

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