Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies references to methods for the determination of the content of the following specific micronutrients in inorganic fertilizers:

— the total boron content;

— the total cobalt content;

— the total copper and zinc content;

— the total iron content;

— the total manganese content;

— total molybdenum content;

— the water-soluble boron content;

— the water-soluble cobalt content;

— the water-soluble copper content;

— the water-soluble iron content;

— the water-soluble manganese content;

— the water-soluble molybdenum content;

— the water-soluble zinc content;

— the sum of declared micronutrients in compound micronutrient fertilizers.

This document is applicable to the fertilizing products blends where a blend is a mix of at least two of the following components: fertilizers, liming materials, soil improvers, growing media, inhibitors, plant biostimulants, and where the following category: inorganic fertilizers is the highest % in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of liquid form by dry mass. If inorganic fertilizer is not the highest % in the blend, the European Standard for the highest % of the blend applies. In case a fertilizing product blend is composed of components in equal quantity, the user decides which standard to apply. Variations in analytical methods for fertilizing product blends can lead to differing results as some components or matrix interactions can affect the outcome. Validation procedures have shown that developed standard methods are robust and reliable across diverse product compositions, but possible interferences and unexpected results when analysing fertilizing product blends are possible.

An overview of the references to methods for the determination of the specific micronutrients is given in Table 1.