Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry for analysis of pellets of plant materials

• An evaluation of LA-ICP-OES for the direct analysis of pelleted plant material is reported.
• Orange citrus, soy and sugarcane plants were pressed into pellets and sampled directly.
• The element menu consisted of Ca, Mg, P, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and B.
• LODs for the method ranged from 0.1 mg kg− 1 for Zn to 94 mg kg− 1 for K.
• The precision ranged from 4% RSD for Mn to 17% RSD for Zn (~ 6.5% RSD average).

An evaluation of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (LAICP OES) for the direct analysis of pelleted plant material is reported. Ground leaves of orange citrus, soy and sugarcane were comminuted using a high-speed ball mill, pressed into pellets and sampled directly with laser ablation and analyzed by ICP OES. The limits of detection (LODs) for the method ranged from as low as 0.1 mg kg− 1 for Zn to as high as 94 mg kg− 1 for K but were generally below 6 mg kg− 1 for most of the elements of interest. A certified reference material consisting of a similar matrix (NIST SRM 1547 peach leaves) was used to check the accuracy of the calibration and the reported method resulted in an average bias of ~ 5% for all the elements of interest. The precision for the reported method ranged from as low as 4% relative standard deviation (RSD) for Mn to as high as 17% RSD for Zn but averaged ~ 6.5% RSD for all the elements (n = 10). The proposed method was tested for the determination of Ca, Mg, P, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and B, and the results were in good agreement with those obtained for the corresponding acid digests by ICP-OES, no differences being observed by applying a paired t-test at the 95% confidence level. The reported direct solid sampling method provides a fast alternative to acid digestion that results in similar and appropriate analytical figures of merit with regard to sensitivity, accuracy and precision for plant material analysis.