Nickel bioavailability assessed by ion exchange resin in the field

Abstract

To measure nickel (Ni) bioavailability experiments were conducted in the field using ion exchange resin (IER) method. Resin bags were inserted into the upper layer of soils developed on ultramafic rocks in New Caledonia. Their Ni contents were determined after four weeks and compared to those of plant leaves of five species. Significant correlations were obtained so that the IER appeared to be successful for routine applications. Furthermore, the use of chemical reactants such as diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and KCl demonstrated to be much less reliable for assessing the bioavailability of Ni.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the staff of the IRD Analysis Laboratory in Nouméa for the analytical determinations, particularly Jacqueline Komor and Jean-Louis Duprey, for their participation in developing the ion exchange resin method.