Brittany Breshears, Julie Denham, Justin Pierson

A method was developed on an ICPAES Liberty 150 to quantifiably measure the levels of five trace metals in two organic and non-organic species of Cucurbita (squash): acorn and butternut. Following various calculations, the results yielded an elevated level of iron in the organic butternut at 23.6 mg/kg of dry seed. Both non-organic squash yielded elevated levels of copper at 13.8 and 32.3 mg/kg of dry seed, respectively. Prepared samples for organic acorn squash were lost during analyte extraction, which prevented a definitive conclusion for the experiment.