Abstract
Sustainable agriculture is an important global issue. The use of organic fertilizers can enhance crop yield and soil properties while restraining pests and diseases. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of long-term use of chemical and organic fertilizers on tea and rhizosphere soil properties in tea orchards. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high-throughput sequencing technology analyses were used to investigate heavy metals content and bacterial composition in rhizosphere soils. Our results indicated that organic fertilizer treatment significantly decreased Cu, Pb and Cd contents in rhizosphere soil sample. The results also showed that treatment with organic fertilizer significantly decreased the contents of Cd, Pb and As in tea leaves. Furthermore, organic fertilizer significantly increased the amino acids content of tea and the pH of the soil. The use of organic fertilizer significantly increased in the relative abundance of Burkholderiales, Myxococcales, Streptomycetales, Nitrospirales, Ktedonobacterales, Acidobacteriales, Gemmatimonadales, and Solibacterales, and decreased the abundance of Pseudonocardiales, Frankiales, Rhizobiales, and Xanthomonadales. In conclusion, organic fertilizer can help to shape the microbial composition and recruit beneficial bacteria into the rhizosphere of tea, leading to improved tea quality and reduced heavy metals content in rhizosphere soil and tea leaves.
Highlights
Camellia sinensis, commonly known as tea plant, is a mountainous crop and an important agricultural product for many farmers in China
We found that the use of organic fertilizer significantly increased the amino acids content of tea (Fig 1)
The contents of polyphenol did not reach statistical significance in tea samples from fields treated with organic fertilizer compared to those treated with chemical fertilizer
Summary
Commonly known as tea plant, is a mountainous crop and an important agricultural product for many farmers in China. Due to its richness in beneficial antioxidants, vitamins, and amino acids, the popularity of tea has been steadily growing. Tea polyphenols, and caffeine are key elements in determining both taste and quality of tea. In 2016, China produced 2.41 million tons of tea with a monetary value of 170.2 billion yuan. Soil degradation and substantial quality and yield decrease have been observed.
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