Development and Application of X-rays in Metal Analysis of Soil and Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Modern agriculture needs careful and fast determination of metal micro and macronutrients as well as trace and potentially toxic elements in soil and plants to define correct soil management strategies or to assess the quality and safety of productions. In recent years, X-ray-based techniques have evolved in a plethora of instrumentations, allowing different types of metal determinations within soils and plants. Such instrumentations span from simple portable devices that can be used in the field to high-performance dedicated synchrotron beamlines only accessible through high-level international projects. Today, available X-ray methods allow metal analysis from percent concentrations down to sub-ppb levels and from the bulk sample to the micro and nano scale, including metal speciation and 2D and 3D mapping, thus offering scientists and operators a wide array of possibilities to solve agriculture-related problems.

In this Special Issue, developments of new instrumentation or analytical methodologies for the analysis of metals in soil and plants will be considered, as well as well applications in agronomy and agroecology, including (but not limited to) soil heath and plant nutrition, metal pollution and remediation concerning the soil–plant system, and quality and safety of food crops.

Prof. Roberto Terzano
Dr. Ignazio Allegretta
Dr. Fabjola Bilo
Dr. Eva Marguí
Dr. Galina V. Pashkova
Guest Editors

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