ABSTRACT
A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT METHODS TO DETERMINE THE CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY IN SOILS OF THE SANTIAGO PROVINCE

Costanzo Bernardi R.1 y Graciela Tabilo T.2
 

The objetive of this study was to cmpare three methods commonly used for the determination of CEC in soils having high contents of soluble salts and/or carbonates. The soil samples under study were from the Santiago province.
The methods used were 1N CH3COONa at pH 7.0, 1N CH3COONa at pH 8.2 and 0.1N NH4Cl in a water-ethanol solution (60% ethanol) at pH 7.0.
The results obtained by these methods correlated significantly with the theoretical values of CEC calculated for each sample based on the mineralogical compasition of the clay fraction and the percentage of organic matter.
A correlation significant at the 0.01 level was found among the CH3COONa methods at both pH values and the theoretical values.

Keywords:
1Químico Farmacéutico, Laboratorio de Química de la División de Agrología, del Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG), Sucre 2397, Santiago, Chile.
2Técnico Agrícola, Laboratorio de Química de la División de Agrología, Sucre 2397, Santiago, Chile.