Comparison of magnesium determination methods on Hungarian soils

Abstract

Magnesium is one of the most important nutrient elements. Soils are tested for magnesium in many countries with several extractants. Each country has its own validated methods, best-suited for its soils. The current study was designed to compare different magnesium content measuring methods with 80 Hungarian samples. The magnesium content was determined by the potassium chloride (1 M KCl 1:10), Mehlich 3 and CoHex (cobalt hexamine trichloride) methods. The maximum, mean and median values resulting from all the Mg determination methods showed the following order of measured magnitude: KCl < CoHex < M3.

Keywords

• comparative analyses
• extraction methods
• soil nutrients