A procedure for rapid determination of the silicon content in plant materials

Abstract

An efficient, reliable and low-cost procedure to determine the silicon content in plant material is presented which allows to monitor the agricultural aspects like growth and yield. The presented procedure consists of a hydrochloric acid pre-treatment and a subsequent thermal oxidation. The method is compared to other processes like dissolution in hydrofluoric acid combined with ICP OES, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) or aqua regia treatment.