Evaluation of soil to tea plant elemental correlation using instrumental neutron activation analysis

Instrumental neutron activation analysis using relative and k ₀-based internal monostandard methods were employed for determination of concentrations of 12 elements in soil and tea plants collected from three different tea producing regions in India namely Assam, Darjeeling and Kangra. A total of 17 tea leaf samples along with corresponding soil samples were analyzed for elemental content. The obtained concentration data was used for the soil–plant elemental correlation studies. Positive correlation was observed between elemental concentrations of tea plants and the associated soil with Pearson correlation coefficient values in the range 0.6–0.9 for ten elements. Variations in transfer factor values were also observed according to the geo-chemical variation.