Manual of Soil, Plant and Water Analyses
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About the Book
In order to achieve sustainable and profitable yields of crops in agricultural planning, it is essential that information on the soil be collected to enable an assessment of the fertility and productivity of the land. A reasonable amount of information for evaluating the land is usually gathered in the field as field data and samples subjected to elaborate laboratory analyses. Manual of Soil, Plant and Water Analyses presents a series of carefully selected methods which reflect current pedagogy for obtaining information on important physical and chemical properties of soil, plant and water samples. It provides the necessary link between classroom, field and laboratory practices. This manual is recommended for use in soil testing laboratories, in higher institutions offering agricultural science, chemistry and biological science including those engaging in environmental and ecological studies especially environmental impact assessment. environmental monitoring and auditing, and water assessment.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: SOIL ANALYSIS: E. J. Udo, T.O. Ibia J.A. Ogunwale
1 FIELD STUDIES
Soil Sampling
Preparation of Sample for Analysis
2 LABORATORY ANALYSIS
Moisture Content in Soils
Carbonate Content in Soils
Carbonate Test
Carbonate Determination
Gypsum Determination
Particle Size Analysis
Removal of Cementing Agents
Hydrometer Method
Pipette Method
3 ORGANIC MATTER DETERMINATIONS
Loss-on Ignition Method
Walkley-Black Wet Oxidation Method
4 SOIL ACIDITY
Soil pH Determination
5 LIME REQUIREMENTS OF ACID SOILS
Shoemaker’s Buffer Method
Adam and Evans Buffer Method
Calcium Hydroxide Titration Method
Barium Chloride-Triethanolamine Method
Reference Lime Requirement Method
Exchangeable Al as Lime Requirement Index
Neutralizing Equivalence of Lime Materials
6 CATION EXCHANGE DETERMINATIONS
Determination of Exchangeable Acidity
BaCl2-TEA Method
7 DETERMINATION OF CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY (CEC)
Direct Cation Saturation Method
Sodium Saturation Method
Summation Method
Recent Methods Developed For the Accurate Determination of CEC
Determination of CEC by Silver Thiourea Method
8 NITROGEN DETERMINATIONS
Determination of Total Nitrogen in by Regular Macro-Kjeldahl Method
Extraction of Nitrate, Nitrate and Ammonium Nitrogen Soils
Extraction of No3-N in Soil Using Morgan Reagent
Ammonium N extraction using Sodium Acetate Buffer
Determination of Nitrogen Forms in Soil and Water Extracts
Determination of Nitrite in Soil and Water Extracts
9 PHOSPHORUS DETERMINATIONS
Colorimetric Determination of P in Soil and Water Extracts
By Ascorbic Acid Molybdate Blue Colour Method
By Vanado-Molybdate Yellow Colour Method
Phosphorus Determination in Soils
Total Phosphorus in Soils
Organic Phosphorus in Soils
Phosphorus Fractionation in Soils
Determination of P in the Extracts
Fractionation of Soil Inorganic Phosphates in Calcareous Soils
Determination of Phosphorus Fixing Capacity of Soils
P Fixing Capacity and P Requirements of Soils using P Sorption Isotherms
10 POTASSIUM DETERMINATIONS
Potassium Fractionation
11 SULPHUR DETERMINATIONS
Turbidimetric Determination of Sulphate in Soil and Plant Extracts
and Water Samples
Determination of Inorganic Sulphate in Soils
Determination of Total Sulphur in Soils
12 MICRONUTRIENTS DETERMINATIONS
Total Elemental Analysis
Determination of Available Boron
13 AVAILABLE FORMS OF OTHER MICRONUTRIENTS
(Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, etc)
Hydrochloric Acid Extraction
Double Acid Extraction
DTPA-TEA Extraction
Exchangeable Iron
Easily Reducible Manganese
14 DETERMINATION OF FREE OXIDES IN SOILS
Total Free Oxide Extraction by Holmgren’s Method
Total Free Oxides by Sodium Citrate Dithionite-Carbonate Extraction
Method
15 EXTRACTIONS OF AMORPHOUS MATERIALS FROM SOILS
Sodium Hydroxide Extraction
16 PYROPHOSPHATE EXTRACTION METHOD FOR ORGANIC FORM
17 DEVELOPMENT OF MULTINUTRIENT EXTRACTANTS FOR SOIL
FERTILITY EVALUATION
Mehlich Multinutrient Extraction Procedures
18 MULTINUTRIENT EXTRACTIONS FOR ALKALINE AND CALCAREOUS SOILS
Ammonium Carbonate-DTPA Extraction Method
Sodium Bicarbonate-EDTA Extraction Method
19 CONDUCTIVITY TEST FOR SALT CONCENTRATION
Measurement of Electrical Conductivity of Saturation Extracts of Soils
Measurement of Electrical Conductivity of 1:2 Soil: Water Extract
PART TWO: PLANT ANALYSIS: E.J. Udo, T.O.Ibia, J.A. Ogunwale
20 MINERAL ELEMENT ANALYSIS IN PLANT ANALYSIS
Dry Ashing Procedure
Wet Digestion Procedure
21 DETERMINATION OF TOTAL NITROGEN IN PLANT MATERIALS
Micro-Kjeldahl Method
22 EXTRACTION OF NITRATE FROM PLANT TISSUES
Salicylic Acid Method
23 BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSES OF PLANT TISSUES
Determination of Crude Protein
Moisture Determination
Ash and Silica Content
Crude Fiber Determination
Determination of Crude Fat
Determination of Soluble Carbonate (Nitrogen Free Extraction)
PART THREE: WATER ANALYSIS: E.J. Udo. and J.A. Ogunwale
24 WATER QUALITY
Collection of Water Samples
Storage Water Samples
Methods of Analysis of the Parameters
25 DETERMINATION OF PHYSICAL PARAMETERS
Measurement of Colour
Total Solids
Total Suspended Solids or Non-filterable Residue
26 DETERMINATION OF CHEMICAL PARAMETERS
Determination of Acidity of Water Samples
Determination of Carbonate and Bicarbonate in Water Samples
Chloride Determination
27 DETERMINATION OF METALLIC ELEMENTS
Water analysis by Atomic Absorption Spectrphotometry and Flame Emission
28 DETERMINATION OF BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS
Determination of Dissolved Oxygen
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
Chemical Oxygen Demand
PART FOUR: ANALYSES OF WATER, SOIL AND PLANT EXTRACTS: E.J. Udo and T.O. Ibia
29 DETERMINATION OF METALLIC CATIONS IN WATER, SOIL AND PLANT EXTRACTS
Determination of K, Na, and Ca by Flame Photometry
Determination of Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Ca by AAS
Determination of Calcium and Magnesium by Versenate Titration Method
Colorimetric Determination of Al, Fe and Si in Extracts
Determination of Aluminium using Modified Aluminon Method
Determination of Fe in Extracts using Orthophenanthroline Colorimetric Method
Determination of Si in Extracts using Colorimetric Method
Determination of Boron in Aqueous Solutions
PART FIVE: PEDOLOGICAL INFERENCES: I.E. Esu
30 PEDOLOGICAL INFERENCES FROM SOIL ANALYTICAL DATA
PART SIX: INSTUMENTATION: T.O. Ibia and A.O. Ano
31 INSTRUMENTATION
Field Analytical Equipments
Laboratory Analyses Equipments
PART SEVEN: QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL: T. O. Ibia and A. O. Ano
32 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL
Safety Precautions
Provision of Adequate Services
Quality Control Measures
PART EIGHT: GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND ANALYSIS: T.O. Ibia
33 GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, ANALYSIS & QUALLTY
Major Categories of Soil Pollution
The Effect of Pollution on Plants
Major Categories of Water Pollution
Important Atmospheric Pollutants
PART NINE: BASIC CHEMISTRY IN SAMPLES ANALYSES: T.O. Ibia and I.E. Esu
34 UNDERSTANDING BASIC CHEMISTRY IN SAMPLES ANALYSES
APPENDICES
Description
Preface
For proper development of a nation and control of the physical environment, information on soil, plant and water quality is very crucial. In developed countries with a high level of technology, information is needed by town and country planners at all levels of decision making. Information on soil is also needed for land allocation for residential, commercial, agricultural and recreational development.
For agricultural planning, it is very essential that the information on soil be collected for the assessment of fertility and the productivity of the land. This will lead to proper management of the soil for sustainable and profitable yields of crops. There is also the need to have information on the quality of the plants or crops grown in the soil in order to evaluate the fertility status of the soil. A reasonable amount of information for evaluating the land is usually gathered in the field as field data. However, most of the useful information needed for land evaluation is largely obtained in the laboratory after subjecting the samples of soils and plants collected in the field to elaborate laboratory analyses.
Water is one of the three sustainers of life and, like food and air, the other sustainers, the quality of water is crucial for its various uses. Good quality water is needed for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. The required level of purity of water depends on the purpose for which the water is to be used. In order to assess the quality of water for any particular use, several parameters of the water have to be determined in the laboratory. The analytical data obtained from the laboratory for land evaluation and water quality assessment include physical, chemical and microbiological properties, but for plants, chemical and at times biological properties are needed.
This manual gives the analytical procedures for important physical and chemical properties of soil, plant and water samples. Microbiological assay is however not included in the manual. The methods described in the manual include volumetric, spectrophotometric (or colorimetric), flame photometric and atomic absorption spectrophotometry which require the use of spectrophotometers or colorimeters and photometers such as flame photometer and atomic absorption spectrophotometer, which are generally available in most moderately equipped laboratories in Nigeria. A significant inclusion in this manual is a guide for pedological inferences from soil test data as well as a section to guide in the understanding of basic chemistry and application in samples analyses.
The manual is recommended for use in soil testing laboratories, the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education offering agricultural science, chemistry and biological sciences. It will also be found very useful for those engaging in environmental and ecological studies, particularly environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental monitoring and auditing, as well as water quality assessment. Some methods in soil analysis section are particularly useful for those carrying out research in Soil Chemistry and Soil Testing.
E.J. UDO
T.O. IBIA
J.A. OGUNWALE
A.O. ANO
I.E. ESU
Prof. Trenchard Ibia
Trenchard Okon Ibia is a Professor of Soil Chemistry and Fertility in the Department of Soil science, University of Uyo, Nigeria. He has vast experience and exposure in teaching, research, consultancy and the public service. Prof Ibia served in the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council as Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as overseeing the Ministry of Lands and Housing. He is a member of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria and a co-author of the publication “Manual of Soil, Plant and Water Analyses”.
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