Flame‐photometric determination of calcium and magnesium in vegetables

Abstract

Many difficulties have been reported in the estimation of calcium and magnesium in plant materials using flame‐photometric methods, the reliability of which has been questioned.In the method described here the effects of interfering ions have been reduced to negligible proportions by using dilute solutions of plant ash, in presence of an excess of sulphate ions, in a flame photometer of high sensitivity. the method gives accurate and reproducible results for a wide range of vegetable tissues, but it has certain limitations at low calcium concentrations, especially in presence of large amounts of phosphate and aluminium.