Performance Evaluation of a Portable Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy System for the Assessment of the Humification Degree of the Soil Organic Matter

• Published in: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 775 - 783
• Main Authors: Santos, Cleber H. dos, Romano, Renan A., Nicolodelli, Gustavo, Carvalho, Camila M., Villas-Boas, Paulino R., Martin-Neto, Ladislau, Montes, Célia R., Melfi, Adolpho J., Milori, Débora M. B. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Química 01-04-2015
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY; laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy; humic acid; humification degree; soil organic matter
• ISSN: 0103-5053; 1678-4790
• DOI: 10.5935/0103-5053.20150039

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIFS) has shown advantages for analyses of whole soil, providing results about chemical structure of soil organic matter (SOM) without the need for a chemical fractionating process; thus, allowing direct analysis of soils. Moreover, another advantage is the potential for the development of portable systems, which could be usable in field analyses. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a portable LIFS system to assess the humification degree (HD) of SOM. A good correlation (R > 0.8) was obtained for results (HD) achieved using the proposed portable system and a conventional fluorescence spectrometric method for humic acid. In addition, the results obtained using the portable LIFS system statistically agreed with the ones achieved using a benchtop LIFS system already described in the literature for such application (R = 0.953). Thus, the portable LIFS system constitutes an affordable option for the in situ characterization of SOM.