INTERNATIONAL PLANT-ANALYTICAL EXCHANGE AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN A TRACE-ELEMENT LABORATORY

Our results of analyses Df the plant samples within the International Plant-analytical Exchange (IPE) program are discussed here. IPE is org anized as proficiency test by the Wageningen Agricultural University ( NL) and our laboratory has been participating in it since the middle o f 1992. The agreement of our data with statistical estimates of true v alues derived from the compiled results supplied by all laboratories i s satisfactory and confirms that procedures used in our laboratory and the whole analytical system lead to accurate results for plant materi als. Moreover, remaining part of plant material No. 980 (Gerbera) is u sed with success as internal reference material in quality control (co ntrol charts) in our trace element laboratory.