Essential soil nutrients used by plants in small amounts are known as micronutrients. These include boron (B), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), and the quasi-essential cobalt (Co). Micronutrients are essential for plant growth and living organisms, and each of them has a specific function in the soil-plant relations, in enzyme pathways, photosynthesis, microbial life, and essential chemical reactions in soils. The availability of soil micronutrients to plant uptake depends on soil chemical, physical, and biological parameters, and on plant factors. However, due to unsustainable farm practices, the content of micronutrients in soils often exceed the plant-tolerance threshold (leading to toxicity) or is below the needed level, thus causing deficiency.

Micronutrient analysis is a first step to tackle nutrient deficiencies in crops, animals, and humans.

• Standard operating procedure for soil available micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) and heavy metals (Ni, Pb, Cd) DTPA extraction method (EN | AR | FR)

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