Rapid and simple leaf tissue test for nitrate

Abstract

A simple and rapid procedure for the determination of nitrate in fresh leaf tissue, suitable for use by relatively untrained operators is presented. The method requires only 4 reagents and can be carried out in less than 20 min from start to finish. A 400 mg sample of fresh leaf tissue is macerated briefly with 5 drops of 10 N sulphuric acid, diluted with 10.0 ml of water and filtered. Nitrate‐N is estimated on an aliquot of the filtered extract by reducing the nitrate to nitrite by shaking with powdered zinc in ammonium hydroxide solution for 3 min. The reduced mixture is allowed to settle (5 min) and an aliquot is withdrawn through a cotton‐wool plug thus removing any particles of the zinc. The filtered aliquot is then reacted with a single colour reagent to yield a pink azo‐dye, the intensity of which is directly proportional to the amount of nitrate.

The method was found to have a coefficient of variation of about 4%. When compared with the phenoldisulphonic acid method for nitrate, on aliquots of the some plant extract, it yielded values which were on average 94.6% of those obtained with the former method. The coefficient of variation between the methods was 7%.