Monochromatic X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for major and trace element analysis in plant science applications

Abstract

Abstract Background and aims Determining elemental concentrations in plant tissues is crucial for any study on plant nutrition, physiology, contamination and food safety. However, existing methodologies based on acid digestion of samples coupled to inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) or plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) are time-consuming and expensive. Methods This study introduces an innovative approach for the rapid and reliable analysis of light, transition, and heavy elements in plant samples using a novel monochromatic X-ray fluorescence (MXRF) spectrometer. Results The MXRF method was tested for the detection of 12 different elements, including light elements (K, Ca), transition metals (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn), metalloids (As, Se), and post-transition “heavy” elements (Tl, Pb), covering concentrations from 1 to 10,000 mg·kg −1 . The limits of detection and quantification ranged from 1.41 to 4.71 mg·kg −1 . The recovery rates varied from 84.74% to 89.34%, with intraday relative standard deviations (RSD) ≤ 2.31% and inter-day RSD ≤ 4.17%. A method-comparison study using 144 plant samples analysed by both MXRF and ICP-AES showed strong correlations ( R 2 > 0.87) for K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, and TI. Conclusions This study demonstrates the reliability of the MXRF technique for the quantification of K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Pb, and Tl in plant samples. Given that MXRF can also be applied to the analysis of elemental concentrations in soil and water samples, future research will focus on refining and establishing methodologies for these sample types.

Plant phenotyping relevance

植物試料中の元素濃度という植物の生理・状態を測定するMXRF法を新規導入し、検出限界、再現性、回収率、ICP-AESとの比較で技術検証しているため、方法が中心的である。

Code and data availability

This is an analytical methods paper (MXRF for plant elemental analysis). No public phenotype datasets, plant images, author code, or trained models are disclosed. The data availability statement is request-only, and the only URLs are the instrument vendor page, cited references, and funding/license links — none are a p

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.