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In situ sampling of small volumes of soil solution using modified micro-suction cups

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Abstract

Two modified designs of micro-pore-water samplers were tested for their capacity to collect unbiased soil solution samples containing zinc and citrate. The samplers had either ceramic or polyethersulfone (PES) suction cups. Laboratory tests of the micro-samplers were conducted using (a) standard solutions with zinc and citrate concentrations that can be found in the rhizosphere and (b) two soils with contrasting texture. The results showed that both suction cups were inert with respect to citrate and zinc: they did not affect the concentrations of the two ions in freshly prepared and directly sampled standard solutions. Both micro-suction cups removed most microorganisms by filtration, though the PES cups were more effective in this respect. This filtering by the suction cups allowed for relatively accurate analysis of citrate in solutions containing microorganisms. These capacities, together with their small size and small dead volume, make the two micro-pore-water samplers highly suitable for sampling of rhizosphere soil solutions although further testing with other organic acids and trace metals may be needed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund of Wageningen University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30471033, 30671238, 30390080), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2006BAD25B02), Program for Changjiang Scholar and Innovation Research Team (No. IRT0511) and New Century Excellent Talents in University of China, and the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. We greatly acknowledge Drs Arnd Kuhn, Roland Rist, Frits Meijboom, Peter Nobels and Thomas Schröder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Nutrition, Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interaction, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100094, P.R. China

    Jianbo Shen

  2. Department of Soil Quality, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jianbo Shen & Ellis Hoffland

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  1. Jianbo Shen
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  2. Ellis Hoffland
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Correspondence to Jianbo Shen.

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Shen, J., Hoffland, E. In situ sampling of small volumes of soil solution using modified micro-suction cups. Plant Soil 292, 161–169 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9212-x

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