Determination of activity of denitrifying enzyme in soil samples by a headspace gas chromatographic technique

Xu-Bo Zhang^a, Zhan-BoHu^a, Xin-Sheng Chai^b, Guang-Zhi Zhong^c, Xiao Ouyang^a, Pei-Yi Li^a

School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.

Abstract

This paper reported a headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) for the determination of denitrifying enzyme activity in soil samples. It was based on measuring the NO₂ signal in a set of closed/air-free vials containing soil samples that incubated at the designated conditions. The results showed that the method has a good measurement precision (RSD < 5.0%) and reasonable accuracy for determining the denitrifying enzyme activity in soil samples. It is simple and efficient, and very suitable to be used in batch sample analysis.

Keywords: Headspace Gas Chromatography, Denitrifying enzyme, Nitrite nitrogen, Nitrogen dioxide.