Title: Nutrients' K X-ray peak energy shift measurements in fenugreek plants and different soils treated with fertilisers

Authors: Kamaldip Kaur; Preeti Rao; Raj Mittal

Addresses: Nuclear Science Laboratories, Physics Department, Punjabi University, Patiala-147002, India ' Nuclear Science Laboratories, Physics Department, Punjabi University, Patiala-147002, India ' Nuclear Science Laboratories, Physics Department, Punjabi University, Patiala-147002, India

Abstract: Energy dispersive X-ray Fluorescence measurements on plants and soils from a pot experiment on fenugreek with different soils; garden/sewage/factory and a specific peak analysis have been used to study cumulative effect of soil conditions/nutrient fertilisers on potassium/calcium/iron nutrients. Experimental set up comprises low power X-ray tube as photon source and Si (PIN) detector with energy resolution 145eV at 5.959 keV Mn K X-rays as X-ray detector. K peak energies of potassium/calcium/iron in plants and soils were precisely evaluated with SOLVER program of precision up to 10⁻⁴ of channel width. Potassium/calcium fertilisations produced large variations in peak energies in garden and sewage soils as compared to that in factory soil. Iron contents beyond its permissible limits in sewage and factory soils were found to suppress the nutrients uptake of plants with potassium/calcium fertilisers as compare to that in garden soil plants.

Keywords: peak energy shifts; pot experiments; energy dispersive XRF; X-ray fluorescence; EDXRF; chemical effect; nutrient fertilisers; fluorescent X-rays; potassium nutrients; calcium nutrients; iron nutrients; fenugreek; garden soil plants; sewage soil plants; factory soil plants; fertilisation; chemical shifts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2016.082256

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2016 Vol.19 No.3/4, pp.301 - 315

Accepted: 20 Nov 2016
Published online: 13 Feb 2017 *

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