Comparison of two- and three-electrode systems in measurements of potential oxygen flux density in soil*
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Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, P.O. Box 201, 20-290 Lublin 27, Poland
Int. Agrophys. 2004, 18(2): 111-120
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ABSTRACT
This paper presents a comparison of the results of potential flux of oxygen in soil, determined by the voltammetric method, OFD, with the use of a three-electrode set of electrodes in the system of potentiostat, and a symmetrical two-electrode set of platinum electrodes. The studies have been performed on artificially prepared saturated or nearing saturation soil samples, representative for mineral soils in Poland. The discussion of the results obtained leads to the conclusion that a possibility exists to use a symmetrical two-electrode system to determine the potential flux of oxygen in soil; however, uncertainty of the results of measurements performed with the use of the voltammetric method, when the classic three-electrode system is used, is smaller than in the case of application of a symmetrical two-electrode system. Regardless of the system of electrodes used (symmetrical two-electrode or three-electrode with the system of potentiostat), the obtained values of OFD should be treated as indicators and not as measures of oxygen availability for plant roots.