Non-metals determination in animal feed by ion chromatography after microwave-induced combustion

PRISCILA TESSMER SCAGLIONI; DIOGO LA ROSA NOVO; MARIANELA SAVIO; FLORENCIA CORA JOFRE; MARCIA FOSTER MESKO

Caparica

Conferencia; 3ª Conferencia sobre tratamiento de muestras de Caparica (www.sampletreatment2018.com).; 2018

Determination of essential and non-essential elements in grains and derivatives is very important, given that some non-metals are investigated for their role in various biological processes. Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) recommends official methods for determination of non-metals in animal feeds; however, they present high limits of detection and difficulties in routine analysis [1]. Thus, it is important to use an appropriate analytical method for quality control of non-metals in animal feed. Ion chromatography (IC) is well-established in routine analysis for non-metals determination in these types of samples [2]. The most convenient way to introduce the sample in the equipment is as a representative solution. Thus, microwave-induced combustion (MIC) has been successfully used to decompose samples with a high content of organic matter and it can be an excellent alternative sample preparation method for grains, which present a difficult decomposition matrix [3]. In this study, the MIC method was evaluated for sample preparation of grains and cereals used to feed pigs. Samples from different breeding places from Argentina were ground, dried and decomposed. For this, some parameters such as sample mass and the absorbing solution more suitable (H2O and NH4OH solutions) for the analytes and for the determination techniques were evaluated. The accuracy evaluation was carried out by recovery tests, by use of reference material with similar matrix to the samples and by comparison of the results with those obtained using other analytical methods. Thus, the combination of MIC with IC can be an eco-friendly alternative for the determination of non-metals in pig feed.