TY - JOUR T1 - Polyacrylamide quantification methods in soil conservation studies JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 270 LP - 275 VL - 58 IS - 5 AU - J. Lu AU - L. Wu Y1 - 2003/09/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/58/5/270.abstract N2 - Polyacrylamide (PAM) application in soil conservation has gained rapid acceptance in recent years. Determination of PAM concentration in waters containing soil constitutes (defined as soil waters in this paper)—such as runoff water, irrigation tail water, and soil solution and PAM content in soil matrix is important for improving PAM application efficiency, understanding PAM conditioning depth, and assessing PAM's fate in the environment. Methods for quantifying PAM concentration in soil waters should be sensitive and reliable at low concentrations (0.1 to 10 mg L−1, or 0.1 to 10 ppm) and invulnerable to interferences from dissolved salts and organic matter. There are about 11 groups of PAM analytical methods in literature. In this article we discuss and review the principles, lower detection limits, major interferences, advantages, and limitations of these methods. The N-bromination method (a PAM analytical technique based on spectrophotometry) is satisfactory for quantification of polyacrylamide in both soil waters and organic-matter-removed soil. ER -