Use of a single sulphuric acid ‐ hydrogen peroxide digest for the analysis of pinus radiata needles

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Abstract
The sulphuric acid‐hydrogen peroxide digest is used extensively for the analysis of N, P, K in plant material. Advantage can be taken of this single digest solution to analyse for Na, Ca, Hg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, and B in Pinus radiata D. Don needles, with only minor modifications to the digestion technique. The results obtained are comparable to those obtained with the nitric‐perchloric acid digestion and dry ashing. The additional operator time involved for the digestion procedure, compared with other digestion mixtures, is compensated for by having only the one digest to process for all elements. One operator can digest and analyse 120 samples for all eleven elements using manual methods in one week.