An automated procedure for the determination of soluble carbohydrates in herbage

Abstract An automated procedure for the estimation of total soluble carbohydrate in water extracts of herbage is described. Addition of different sugars to grass extracts showed good recoveries (96.5–104.5%) for glucose, fructose, sucrose and fructosan. Analysis of sugar mixtures similar in composition to grass extracts also gave good recoveries (98.7–100%). The automated technique enabled 20 samples per hour to be analysed with a lower coefficient of variation (1.96%) than for a manual anthrone method (3.85%).