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Activation Analysis in Botany and Agriculture. Survey Paper

Abstract

The applications of activation analysis to the plant sciences are reviewed. In soil science the technique has only been used by a few workers but its potentialities are good. In particular, it offers a practical method of measuring the concentrations of trace elements such as Co, Cu, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn in the soil solution, which has rarely if ever been carried out by other techniques. It can also be used to determine phosphorus in the soil solution from phosphate-deficient soils, which cannot be done by current methods. In pure botany there have been many applications, mostly concerned with the behaviour of essential trace elements. The sensitivity of the method is adequate for the analysis not only of minute seeds but of embryos, endosperm and seed coats dissected from those seeds. Important developments include the use of the (n, {alpha}) reaction to determine boron, the (p, n) reaction to determine oxygen-18 in products of photosynthesis, and the detection of minute traces of organic phosphates on chromatograms. Most papers refer to seed plants, but there has been some work on fungi and about 20 elements have been determined in algae. Some of the latter elements could not have been determined  More>>
Authors:
Bowen, H. J.M. [1] 
  1. University of Reading, Reading, Berks. (United Kingdom)
Publication Date:
Oct 15, 1967
Product Type:
Conference
Report Number:
IAEA-SM-91/33
Resource Relation:
Conference: Symposium on Nuclear Activation Techniques in the Life Sciences, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 8-12 May 1967; Other Information: 87 refs., 4 tabs.; Related Information: In: Nuclear Activation Techniques in the Life Sciences. Proceedings of the Symposium on Nuclear Activation Techniques in the Life Sciences| 726 p.
Subject:
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; AGRICULTURE; ALGAE; BORON; BOTANY; ENDOSPERM; FUNGI; OXYGEN 18; PHOSPHATES; PHOSPHORUS; PHOTOSYNTHESIS; POTASSIUM; SELENIUM
OSTI ID:
22116207
Research Organizations:
International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
Country of Origin:
IAEA
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: ISSN 0074-1884; TRN: XA13M1264072862
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) 287-297
Announcement Date:
Jul 29, 2013

Citation Formats

Bowen, H. J.M. Activation Analysis in Botany and Agriculture. Survey Paper. IAEA: N. p., 1967. Web.
Bowen, H. J.M. Activation Analysis in Botany and Agriculture. Survey Paper. IAEA.
Bowen, H. J.M. 1967. "Activation Analysis in Botany and Agriculture. Survey Paper." IAEA.
@misc{etde_22116207,
title = {Activation Analysis in Botany and Agriculture. Survey Paper}
author = {Bowen, H. J.M.}
abstractNote = {The applications of activation analysis to the plant sciences are reviewed. In soil science the technique has only been used by a few workers but its potentialities are good. In particular, it offers a practical method of measuring the concentrations of trace elements such as Co, Cu, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn in the soil solution, which has rarely if ever been carried out by other techniques. It can also be used to determine phosphorus in the soil solution from phosphate-deficient soils, which cannot be done by current methods. In pure botany there have been many applications, mostly concerned with the behaviour of essential trace elements. The sensitivity of the method is adequate for the analysis not only of minute seeds but of embryos, endosperm and seed coats dissected from those seeds. Important developments include the use of the (n, {alpha}) reaction to determine boron, the (p, n) reaction to determine oxygen-18 in products of photosynthesis, and the detection of minute traces of organic phosphates on chromatograms. Most papers refer to seed plants, but there has been some work on fungi and about 20 elements have been determined in algae. Some of the latter elements could not have been determined by any other technique. There have been numerous applications in agriculture, though here the sensitivity of the method for essential trace elements has not been taken advantage of as much as might have been expected. There has, however, been particular interest in the determination of selenium, mainly because of the difficulty of using conventional analysis for the levels normally found in herbage and fertilizers. The determination of toxic residues, containing such elements as As, Br, CI, Hg or Ni is another application of great potential interest. In a recent intercomparison programme involving the analysis of standard kale, activation analysis has been shown to give results agreeing with those obtained by other techniques in all but one instance. The exception is the determination of potassium in plant tissue by gamma spectrometry. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1967}
month = {Oct}
}