An energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence method for analyzing Fe and Zn in common bean, maize and cowpea biofortification programs

Georgia E Guild; Nicholas G Paltridge; Meike S Andersson; James C R Stangoulis

doi:10.1007/s11104-017-3352-4

An energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence method for analyzing Fe and Zn in common bean, maize and cowpea biofortification programs

Plant Soil. 2017:419:457-466. doi: 10.1007/s11104-017-3352-4. Epub 2017 Aug 1.

Authors

Georgia E Guild¹, Nicholas G Paltridge¹, Meike S Andersson², James C R Stangoulis¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Science & Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
² HarvestPlus, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia.

Abstract

Background and aims: Biofortification breeding programs have the need for rapid and accurate screening methods to identify nutrient dense genotypes. This study explores the use of energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) for the rapid screening of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) concentration in three coarse-grain crops; common bean, maize and cowpea.

Methods: Bean, maize and cowpea seed was provided from biofortification breeding programs and analysed with Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine reference Fe and Zn concentrations. A subset of samples for each crop was used to calibrate for Zn and Fe and a separate set of samples used to validate the XRF method.

Results: Results indicate that when analysing bean, maize and cowpea flour samples, the EDXRF results were not significantly different to the reference ICP-MS analysis, with an average difference of ± 1 mg kg^-1 for both Fe and Zn.

Conclusion: EDXRF analysis of common beans, cowpea and maize flour enables rapid and accurate analysis when screening for Fe and Zn in bean, maize and cowpea.

Keywords: Biofortification; EDXRF; Micronutrient; Plant; XRF.