Analytical Determination of Boron in Irrigation Water Using Azomethine-H: Spectrophotometry

Abstract

Boron level in irrigation water is an important factor for high yield and quality agricultural production. Concentration below 1ppm provides plants with proper development and higher concentration poses toxicity problem. This necessitates for the use of accurate technique for assessment of boron in the irrigation water. Several analytical methods have been used for determination of boron in water and waste water systems but optimization of measurement condition has not been fully carried out. Analytical method was developed using azomethine-H. Effect of ascorbic acid and pH were investigated. From the result obtained, it was found that ascorbic acid in the reagent serves as antioxidant and optimum pH for measurement was found to be 5.24  0.02 at room temperature and wavelength of 415nm. This method showed wide linearity of up to 3ppm boron, good sensitivity and accuracy with limit of detection of 0.0514ppm within 95% confidence level. It can be concluded that this technique is better effective than the existing methods for boron determination in aqueous solution.