Soil nitrate analysis by cadmium reduction

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this research was to determine the feasibility of cadmium reduction analysis of soil nitrate as a teaching method and also as a general soil nitrate analysis method. Sixteen soil samples were analyzed for nitrate using cadmium reduction, phenoldisulfonic acid and steam distillation methods. The soil pH levels ranged from 6.3 to 8.4. The nitrate levels ranged from 1 ppm to 62 ppm while the soil nitrite levels fell between 0.3 ppm to 2.6 ppm. Correlation coefficients between the three methods were found to be highly significant. The analysis means were found to be statistically the same between the cadmium reduction method and steam distillation methods. The analysis of soil nitrate by cadmium reduction was found to be acceptable for the determination of soil nitrate levels.