EVALUATION OF A CLOSED VESSEL ACID DIGESTION METHOD FOR PLANT ANALYSES USING INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA SPECTROMETRY

A simple acid digestion procedure has been evaluated which utilized a closed, teflon container with HNO3 and plant tissue placed into an initially cool oven which was brought to 110°C overnight. The accuracy and precision of the method were evaluated for a wide variety of plant materials obtained from NBS and a regional plant tissue exchange program. There were significant differences between the proposed method and the standard HNO3-HC1O4 digestion with Al, Fe, Cu, and Mg. However, the data comparison of the HNO3 closed vessel digestion results to NBS plant reference materials showed significantly lower values only with Al and Fe. Comparison of this method to the plant materials analyzed by laboratories in a tissue exchange program showed good. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.