Determination of atrazine in soil samples by ELISA using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies

Atrazine concentrations were measured by polyclonal antibody (PAb) and mono clonal antibody (MAb) ELISAs in methanolic extracts of both laboratory-fort ified and field samples collected from 12 maize fields. Analysis of 91 soil samples collected in the Southern Moravian region demonstrated that the EL ISAs were a reliable screening tool for the determination of atrazine in so il matrices. A good correlation of results obtained by ELISAs and gas chrom atography within the concentration range of 0-380 mu g kg(-1) was found in the samples collected from two maize fields (r PAb ELISA-GC) = 0.97, n = 21 ; r (MAb ELISA GC) = 0.94, n = 21]. A somewhat lower correlation was found for the samples collected from ten additional fields within the concentrati on range of 0-390 mu g kg(-1) [r(PAb ELISA-GC) = 0.91, n = 15; r(MAb ELISA- GC) = 0.87, n = 15)]. The results obtained by PAb and MAb ELISAs showed no significant difference although the sensitivity of the PAb method was by on e order of magnitude higher than that based on MAb.