The production of fertilizer is a key industry for a country's agricultural sector, with the main benefit of increasing crop productivity. The primary elements of interest in fertilizers are categorized into four classes: primary nutrients, secondary nutrients, micronutrients, and trace elements. Although a variety of techniques may be used for the measurement of trace elements in fertilizer, ICP-OES offers the best combination of cost, simplicity, ruggedness and accuracy, and also has a dynamic range which is appropriate for the concentrations expected in fertilizer samples.

This work demonstrates the ability of the Avio^® 220 Max hybrid simultaneous ICP-OES to meet Thai regulatory limits for trace elements in fertilizers through the analysis of reference materials.