A method was developed by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) for the determination of selenium in plant samples. Effects of reagent and pre-reduction method on the fluorescence intensity of selenium were studied. The influence of coexisting foreign ions on the determination of selenium was also investigated. Under the optimized digestive and experimental conditions, the linear regression equation was I=139.98c+27.71 for Se. The linear range, the correlation coefficient, and the detection limit of Se was 0~10 ng·mL -1, 1.0000, and 1.45 ng·g -1 respectively. The recovery of Se (98.9%~101%, mean=100%) was determined through the use of standard reference material. The relative standard deviation for nine replicate analyses was 0.73% for Se content in shrub leaves. This method was verified by analyzing the national reference material(GSV-1) and the found value was in good agreement with the certified value. The proposed method that was successfully used for the determination of Se in plant samples has the advantages of simple operation, low cost, and high efficiency.
