Application of LIBS technology in soil fertility monitoring

Background:

Soil is the environment for crops to survive, so soil nutrients are directly related to the nutritional elements of crops. By monitoring the abundance and deficiency of soil nutrients, the nutrient content of the land can be determined. Insufficient nutrient supplementation will lead to a reduction in crop yields; excessive supplementation, such as nitrogen fertilizer, will cause environmental pollution such as water bodies. Therefore, soil nutrient monitoring is very important, involving the nutritional content of crops and environmental protection.

Traditional methods use instruments such as soil nutrient testers and soil nutrient rapid testers for soil nutrient testing. These methods take a long time to test; in addition, chemical reagents need to be added for testing, which is not only costly but also pollutes the environment. The country spends up to 2 billion yuan on soil testing every year, and the high testing cost leads to a small number of samples and poor representativeness.

Solutions and cases:

LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) technology has the characteristics of fast testing speed and no need for preliminary sample processing. It uses a focused strong pulse laser to instantly vaporize the sample, generate high-temperature plasma, and measure the content of elements through atomic characteristic emission spectra. The Las Amos Laboratory in the United States was the first to apply LIBS technology to agricultural soil component testing.

The National Agricultural Intelligent Equipment Center uses Ocean Optics' LIBS-Insight system to analyze nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other elements in the soil. It has conducted a large number of experimental verifications, obtained good experimental results, and greatly saved testing costs.

Functions and features:

Fast test speed, 2.1ms measurement time
No need for preliminary sample processing
Can analyze multiple elements at the same time
Low detection limit (ppm/ppb)