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Extraction of Free Amino Acids from Soil¹

ABSTRACT

Alternatives to extraction with ethanol were examined in order to obtain more effective removal of free amino acids from soil. Ba(OH)₂ was a promising extractant and proved to be very effective in recovering a mixture of 17 amino acids that had been added to soil. Resolution of the extract by elution chromatography was followed by colorimetric analysis; 73 to 121% of the acidic and neutral components of the mixture and 36 to 41% of the basic amino acids were recovered. A second extraction procedure, based on the use of NH₄OAc, was developed to avoid any slight hydrolysis of amino acid polymers that may have occurred during preparation of Ba(OH)₂ extracts. The NH₄OAc extraction procedure was 31 to 83% effective in the recovery of added amino acids from soil. When both extraction techniques were applied in preliminary trials to characterize the free amino acids fraction of a soil, the NH₄OAc extraction was considered the better. Both NH₄OAc and Ba(OH)₂ extractions yielded many more kinds of free amino acids in concentrations 5 to 25 times greater than that reported earlier in comparable studies using ethanol extraction.

¹ Paper No. 4526, Scientific Journal Series, Minnesota Agr. Exp. Sta., University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Contribution from Department of Soils and Department of Bacteriology. Data taken from a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Presented before Div. III, Soil Science Society of America, Lafayette, Ind., Aug. 4, 1958.

² Formerly Research Assistant in Soils, University of Minnesota, now Assistant Professor, Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Can., and Associate Professor, jointly, Department of Soils and Department of Bacteriology, University of Minnesota, respectively.

Received for publication November 9, 1959. Accepted for publication February 5, 1960.