Determination of nicotine in the soil mixed with tobacco powder as fertilizer

The nicotine content of the tobacco powder completely degrades in one week when it is added to a non manured soil. If some organic manure is added to the soil so as to sensibly increase the microbial flora, then nicotine degr ades in less than twenty-four hours. In sterilized soil nicotine content is constant over the time because of the total absence of microorganism. In t he determination of the nicotine in the soil, accurate analytical results c an be obtained by adding methanol to the soil sample at the moment of the s ampling. Methanol degrades the enzymatic systems causing a soil sterilizati on and avoids, therefore, the degradation of the alkaloid. The extracted ni cotine is analyzed by means of high performance liquid chromatography in a rapid and accurate manner.