Evaluation of distilling the entire digest or an aliquot for total nitrogen determination in soil digests

Sahrawat, K L and Pardhasaradhi, G and Murthy, K V S (1989) Evaluation of distilling the entire digest or an aliquot for total nitrogen determination in soil digests. Fertilizer Research, 19 (1). pp. 39-43. ISSN 0167-1731

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Abstract

Accurate and easy to adapt methods of total soil N determination are a prerequisite for N balance research. For JSN balance studies certain modifications of the regular methods are generally adopted, e.g. the distillation of an aliquot of the digest in preference to the entire digest. However, comparative evaluation of such methods has not been investigated. In this study, three methods of distilling soil digests were evaluated for the determination of total N in diverse Alfisols and Vertisols. These are distillation of a clear aliquot (suspended materials allowed to settle) of the digest, distillation of an aliquot with suspended materials, following digestion in a block digestor, and distillation of the entire digest following macro-Kjeldahl digestion. The total N content of soils were determined to be similar whether the aliquot distilled was a clear solution or a suspension with solid materials, and these results were similar to those obtained by distilling the entire digest. The precision obtained by the three methods of distillation was similar for the Vertisols but for the Alfisols, distillation of the clear aliquot of the digest was found to be most precise

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Others > Soil Science Others > Fertilizer Applications
Depositing User:	Mr B K Murthy
Date Deposited:	15 Nov 2011 08:59
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2011 08:59
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/3949
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01080684
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	UNSPECIFIED
Links:	Author

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