Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Chemical and Biological Determination of Copper in Soil

Abstract

SEVERAL methods, chemical as well as biological, have been suggested for the determination of copper available to plants in soil. Steenbjerg's1 method has been used here since 1940, and consists in the extraction of copper from soil with dilute hydrochloric acid of such concentration as to result in pH 2.00 of the soil suspension after shaking for one hour. This method has in this laboratory during the past three years been compared with bioassays of copper by means of Aspergillus niger according to Mulder2. Both methods are somewhat laborious and do not yield readily reproducible results, inter alia, because the time of sampling and the length of sample storage influence the results of at least the chemical method.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Steenbjerg, F., and Boken, E., Plant and Soil, 2, 195 (1950).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mulder, E. G., Arch. Mikrobiol., 9, 72 (1939).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cheng, K. L., and Bray, R. H., Anal. Chem., 25, 655 (1953)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Viro, P. J., Soil Sci., 79, 459 (1955).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

HENRIKSEN, A. Chemical and Biological Determination of Copper in Soil. Nature 178, 499–500 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178499b0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/178499b0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing