Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

A laboratory and field evaluation of a portable immunoassay test for triazine herbicides in environmental water samples

May 1, 1993
The usefulness and sensitivity, of a portable immunoassay test for the semiquantitative field screening of water samples was evaluated by means of laboratory and field studies. Laboratory results indicated that the tests were useful for the determination of atrazine concentrations of 0.1 to 1.5 μg/L. At a concentration of 1 μg/L, the relative standard deviation in the difference between the regression line and the actual result was about 40 percent. The immunoassay was less sensitive and produced similar errors for other triazine herbicides. After standardization, the test results were relatively insensitive to ionic content and variations in pH (range, 4 to 10), mildly sensitive to temperature changes, and quite sensitive to the timing of the final incubation step, variances in timing can be a significant source of error. Almost all of the immunoassays predicted a higher atrazine concentration in water samples when compared to results of gas chromatography. If these tests are used as a semiquantitative screening tool, this tendency for overprediction does not diminish the tests' usefulness. Generally, the tests seem to be a valuable method for screening water samples for triazine herbicides.
Publication Year 1993
Title A laboratory and field evaluation of a portable immunoassay test for triazine herbicides in environmental water samples
DOI 10.1080/03067319308044435
Authors P.A. Schulze, P. D. Capel, P. J. Squillace, D.R. Helsel
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry
Index ID 70171265
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Minnesota Water Science Center