Determination of N-species in soil extracts using microplate techniques

Colourimetric methods for the determination of NO(3)(-), NH(4)(+) and total N in water extracts of soils using 96-well microplate techniques are described. Nitrate was determined by azo dye formation after reduction to NO(2)(-) using a solution of hydrazine sulphate. Ammonium in the soil extracts was purified and concentrated by diffusion as NH(3) from small volumes (750microL) of extract treated with MgO into a H(2)SO(4) collector using a double-plate, MicroResp method and subsequently determined by the Berthelot reaction. For the determination of total N, samples were oxidised with K(2)S(2)O(8) at 110 degrees C in a 96x1.1mL polytetrafluoroethylene block with a lid that closed individual wells. The oxidised solutions were transferred to standard plates for colourimetric analysis of NO(3)(-). The recovery of N, measured as NO(3)(-), from NH(4)NO(3) and a range of organic-N compounds was >95%. The limits of quantitation of the colourimetic assays were 0.020mgNL(-1) for NO(3)(-) and 0.051mgNL(-1) for NH(4)(+). The methods were tested on water extracts derived from a range of 10 nutrient poor soils from Scotland. There were acceptable linear correlations between the results obtained by established methods. For soil extracts analysed by the microplate method, the relationship for NO(3)(-) was 1.03x result from ion chromatography+0.0055 (R(2)=0.9961); for NH(4)(+) determined by the microplate method, the relationship was 0.9696xresult from a discrete analyser-0.0169 (R(2)=0.9757) and for total N determined by oxidation in the PTFE microplate the relationship was 0.9435xresult obtained by combustion+0.0489 (R(2)=0.9743). Purification of the NH(4)(+) in water extracts from the 10 different soils by the diffusion method did not result in any systematic difference (paired t-test, p=0.05) between measured concentration values determined before and after diffusion.