
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2006
Journal or Book Title
Transactions of the ASABE
Volume
49
Issue
3
First Page
597
Last Page
606
DOI
10.13031/2013.20476
Abstract
On-the-go, real-time soil nutrient analysis would be useful in site-specific management of soil fertility. The rapid response and low sample volume associated with ion-selective field-effect transistors (ISFETs) make them good soil fertility sensor candidates. Ion-selective microelectrode technology requires an ion-selective membrane that responds selectively to one analyte in the presence of other ions in a solution. This article describes: (1) the evaluation of nitrate and potassium ion-selective membranes, and (2) the investigation of the interaction between the ion-selective membranes and soil extractants to identify membranes and extracting solutions that are compatible for use with a real-time ISFET sensor to measure nitrate and potassium ions in soil. The responses of the nitrate membranes with tetradodecylammonium nitrate (TDDA) or methlytridodecylammonium chloride (MTDA) and potassium membranes with valinomycin were affected by both membrane type and soil extractant. A TDDA-based nitrate membrane would be capable of detecting low concentrations in soils to about 10-5 mole/L NO3 -. The valinomycin-based potassium membranes showed satisfactory selectivity performance in measuring potassium in the presence of interfering cations such as Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Al3+, and Li+ as well as provided a consistent sensitivity when DI water, Kelowna, or Bray P1 solutions were used as base solutions. The TDDA-based nitrate membrane and the valinomycin-based potassium membrane, used in conjunction with Kelowna extractant, would allow determination of nitrate and potassium levels, respectively, for site-specific control of fertilizer application.
Access
Open
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Kim, Hak-Jin; Hummel, John W.; and Birrell, Stuart J., "Evaluation of Nitrate and Potassium Ion-Selective Membranes for Soil Macronutrient Sensing" (2006). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 556.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/556
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Soil Science Commons
Comments
This article is from Transactions of the ASABE 49 (2006): 597–606, doi:10.13031/2013.20476.