| Abstract: | In the analysis of soil samples with immunochemical methods, the interpretation of tracer signals derived from marker enzymes such as peroxidase may be limited by the presence of endogenous enzyme activity. Therefore various inhibitors of peroxidase were tested for their ability to remove endogenous enzyme activity. Hydrogen peroxide, sodium azide and phenylhydrazine effectively inhibited a commercial peroxidase, while only phenylhydrazine proved to be a successful inhibitor of peroxidase in soil samples. An optimized enzyme immunoassay was then used for the investigation of soil samples for non‐extractable atrazine residues. Only soil samples where atrazine had been applied during preceding years yielded positive signals in contrast to a control soil that came from a barn with no atrazine applied. |
