Validation  and Development of Gravimetric Method for Humic Acid Determination

Sobia Noor; Rehmat Ullah; Muhammad Akram Qazi; Zafar Abbas; Fareeha Habib; Farhat Bashir; Muhammad Adeel Kamran; Ateeq-ur-Rehman Memon; Allah Nawaz; Abdul Ghafar Khan

Validation and Development of Gravimetric Method for Humic Acid Determination

Authors

Sobia Noor Scientific Officer, Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan
Rehmat Ullah Principal Scientist, Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan.
Muhammad Akram Qazi Chief Scientist, Soil Fertility Research Institute, Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Zafar Abbas Senior Scientist, Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan
Fareeha Habib Senior Scientist, Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan
Farhat Bashir Scientific Officer, Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan
Muhammad Adeel Kamran Institute of Food Sciences & Nutrition, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
Ateeq-ur-Rehman Memon Director General, Pakistan National Accreditation Council, Islamabad, Pakistan
Allah Nawaz Soil Chemistry Section, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
Abdul Ghafar Khan Senior Scientist, Soil Fertility Research Institute, Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Keywords:

Validation, Gravimetric, Development, Fertilizers, Method

Abstract

Samples of fertilizer undergo testing to ascertain the levels of nutrients they contain, but the results differ depending on the method used. Thus, the primary aim of this research was to create and verify a method for determining humic acid using gravimetric analysis. The gravimetric method for quantifying humic acid contents was validated at the Soil & Water Testing Laboratories (SWTL), Accredited for ISO: 17025 in D.G.Khan. The validation process encompassed repeatability, reproducibility, limit of detection, limit of quantification, recovery, and bias. Descriptive stat were used in the study (i.e Average, Standard Deviation, relative standard deviation, etc.), and for Reproducibility T-test was employed. The detection as well as quantification limits were 0.145% and 0.484% Humic acid, respectively. With a repeatability RSD of 0.4725%, the reproducibility showed T-calculated values of 0.05, which were below the T-tabulated threshold of 2.262. The alpha value for T used in this study was 0.05 (5% level of significance or 95% confidence interval, i.e K2. The recovery of Humic acid was 102.34%. The Z-scores for the results (QUATEST3 www.quatest3.com.vn) in Vietnam fell within the satisfactory range. The coefficient of correlation (0.999%) indicates a strong connection between the true value of Humic acid and the calculated values. This result indicates that the performance of the method was best. As all the parameters performed well and gave accurate results as per standard criteria. Therefore, the approach could be effectively applied for determining humic acid in fertilizers.

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Validation and Development of Gravimetric Method for Humic Acid Determination