I need to analyse plant rinsate for analysis of heavy metals as part of a Mine spill contamination project. Do we have any standard protocol for plant rinsate analysis?
Hi Gaurav,
What do you mean by plant rinsate. Do you mean contaminants that can be washed off the vegetation? What do you need the information for (what will you use the data for)?
Hi Andrew,
With plant rinsate, I mean the contaminants that are on the surface of the leaves and can be washed off the vegetation. To be more specific, the crops are alfalfa, onion, okra, cucurbits. The data will be used for the scientific purpose of reporting the safety and consumption of the crops as food and fodder in the region of mine spill. I will, however, be analyzing the total metal concentration using acid digest and ICP-OES measurements. The main idea is to integrate this with what is there on the surface.
Thanks Guarav,
If you are concerned about wildlife or animal grazing (eg the alfalfa), then you should not wash the leaves before analysis as these animals will ingest all of the metals present within and on the leaf surface. If you are worried about human consumption you have some options. You can replicate domestic washing by using a distilled water rinse. You can get a better measure of metals within the leaves/plant tissue by using a more aggressive detergent +/- acid rinse (see some examples in link below).
http://www.nutricaodeplantas.agr.br/site/extensao/comunication_v36_preparoamostra.pdf
Hi there
it depends on the heavy metal.
Many protocols rinse with PBS, at least 3 times followed by one rinse of deionised water to get rid of the phosphate
I used a solution specific for arsenic, but other researchers have use it for other heavy metals: consist of 1 mM K2HPO4, 5 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES), 0.5 mM Ca(NO3)2 at pH 6 for 10 min (Sandau, Pulz and Zimmermann, 1996; Abedin, Feldmann and Meharg, 2002)
I hope this helps
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