Ekoloji 28(108): 2081-2085 (2019)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Effects of Long-Term Different Fertilization Structure on the

Trend of Eco-Physiological Factors of Tea Plants
Yan-ting Han1,2, Lin-xiang Jiang1, Fei-de Fan3, Hong-yu Yuan1, 2*
1
College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang 464000, China;
2
Henan Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang 464000, China;
3
College of City and Tourism, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421001, China
Email: yuanhonghong4364@163.com

Tea tree is a perennial leaf-picking crop, which has a large demand for nitrogen. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer has
played an important role in tea production. However, in recent years, due to the increasing amount of chemical
nitrogen, the insufficient supply of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, and the lack of organic fertilizer sources,
the phenomenon of preferential application of chemical nitrogen by the majority of professional households is
becoming more and more serious, and the fertilizer structure is generally unreasonable. The balance of various
nutrient elements in tea garden soil was broken, and the proportion of topdressing and base fertilizer was
imbalanced. Moreover, the fertility level of some tea garden soil was low, resulting in the decline of tea yield, tea
quality and economic benefits. Tea plant is a perennial crop, the seasonal and rhythmic growth of tea plant
requires fertilizer to make it absorb fertilizer concentratively and periodically. The object of harvest is nutrient
body, which is full-price, selective and focused on nutrition. The yield and quality of tea were significantly
correlated with soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available and other contents. The influence of long-term
different fertilization structure on the change trend of eco-physiological factors of tea plant was analyzed, which
was helpful to improve the utilization rate of chemical fertilizer, promote the growth of tea plant, and thus improve
the yield and quality of tea.
Fertilization Structure; Tea Plant; Physiological Factors; Change Trend

1 Introduction
Tea is mainly distributed in subtropical areas in China, and the hilly red soil tea area in subtropical areas plays a
very important role in tea production in China. Discussing the effects of different fertilization structures on the
physiological and ecological effects of tea plantations has important theoretical significance and practical value
for guiding the tea production of high quality, safety and efficiency in this area (Li et al. 2017).
Liwei Sun and Naihe Yan published an article in the Journal of Ekoloji (Issue 107, 2019) entitled “Effects of
Bioorganic Fertilizer on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Biomass of Dryland Oats” (Sun and Yan 2019). The effects
of bio-organic fertilizer on oats in dryland were studied in terms of soil nutrients and microbial biomass. Dryland
oat production area was selected as the experimental research area. Five treatments were implemented in this
area, namely, no bio-organic fertilizer (CK), one-year bio-organic fertilizer (H1), two-year bio-organic fertilizer
(H2), three-year bio-organic fertilizer (H3) and four-year bio-organic fertilizer (H4). The oat variety is Bajun No.

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1. Bioorganic fertilizer consists of animal manure and crop straw. The results showed that the contents of soil
organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus and available
potassium in 0-20 cm dryland oat soil were significantly higher than those in the control. The soil organic matter
increased from 0.732% to 0.947% and 0.985% per hm2 of 75 t and 90 t bio-organic fertilizer. Soil microbial
biomass C, N and P contents of different bio-organic fertilizer treatments were H4 > H3 > H2 > H1 >CK,
respectively. Therefore, the application of bio-organic fertilizer can improve the nutrient and microbial biomass
of oat soil in dryland.
Relevant scholars have studied the effect of fertilization structure on the change trend of ecological and
physiological factors of tea plant, and concretely reached several conclusions: soil available nutrients contributed
the most to tea yield; the yield-increasing effect of withdrawal of fertilization in no-tillage mountain tea garden
was better than that of cave application, because the nutrients of cave application were too concentrated to be
effectively absorbed and utilized, and the yield of fresh leaves was reduced (Zhang et al. 2017). The application
of compound fertilizer is more productive than urea. The main reason is that compound fertilizer is a slow-acting
fertilizer with three elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (Zucaro et al. 2018). Among them,
phosphorus can promote the physiological function and root growth of tea plants. Potassium can improve the
stress resistance of trees and has a better regulating effect, thus increasing the ability of leaves to absorb nitrogen
in the air and improving the biological yield of tea. Tea shoot growth has a certain role in promoting, tea with the
application of organic fertilizer than the simple application of chemical fertilizer has a better yield-increasing
effect, the color of leaves is greener and the quality has improved (Heimler et al. 2017); in green tea, oolong tea
and black tea areas, tea garden potassium, magnesium fertilizer has a good yield-increasing effect, even in the
case where the soil has an effective potassium and magnesium content above a critical value. The application of
chemical fertilizer has little effect on the content of available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in tea garden
soil, while the application of sulfur-containing fertilizer can significantly increase the content of available sulfur
in soil, and the combination of nitrogen fertilizer with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can improve the yield
and output value of tea (Li et al. 2017, Wan Mahari et al. 2018).
On the basis of the above research, this study was conducted in the typical subtropical red soil hilly tea area, the
industrial belt of Baili Tea Gallery in Changsha County, Hunan Province. The effects of different fertilization
structures on the quality and yield of tea in tea garden were studied after years of implementation of the
experimental design.

2 Idea description
2.1 Effect of fertilization on the quality of tea tree
Soil organic matter has a great influence on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil. Soil
organic matter content is an important indicator of soil maturity and fertility level in tea plantations. Soil organic
matter content in China’s high-quality famous tea producing areas is above. Compared with low-yielding tea
plantations, the difference of soil nutrients between high-yielding tea plantations and low-yielding tea plantations
is greatest in organic matter, which is higher in soil layer than in low-yielding tea plantations. Higher organic
matter content is essential for high quality tea. Adding organic fertilizer can improve the color, aroma, taste and
water extract of tea (Hoffmann et al. 2017).
At present, China’s nitrogenous fertilizer industry has made considerable progress. The amount of nitrogenous
fertilizer used in tea plantations has been continuously increasing, which has played a good role in improving tea
yield. However, in the past few years, because only the pursuit of tea production, there has been a phenomenon of
high nitrogen cultivation in the production, so that the proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the

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soil of tea garden is abnormal, affecting the improvement of tea quality (Haiyan et al. 2017). The application of
phosphorus and potassium fertilizers on the basis of nitrogen application can significantly improve the effect of
nitrogen fertilizer and at the same time make up for the adverse effects of reducing the content of tea polyphenols
and water extracts due to excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer. In addition, a large number of studies abroad
have shown that under the combination of nitrogen and potassium, the synthesis of various enzymes in tea can not
only increase the contents of protein, caffeine and tea polyphenols, but also promote the improvement of the
bottom grade of tea leaves, and the quality of green tea can also be improved.
2.2 Effect of fertilization on tea yield
Current tea gardens often adopt the method of applying phosphorus and potassium fertilizer with nitrogen as the
main fertilizer. Soil available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium are the main factors
affecting tea yield. The comparative study of tea garden soil and non-tea garden soil showed that the
exchangeable magnesium content of tea garden soil was significantly lower than that of non-tea garden soil (Peng
and Huang 2017). In addition, the unbalanced fertilization in tea garden, the low input of organic fertilizer, the
large increase of the amount of chemical fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer, and the relatively insufficient
input of potassium and magnesium, resulted in the low content of available potassium and magnesium in the soil
of tea garden, thus reducing the yield of tea.

3 Results
The combination of inorganic fertilizer and organic fertilizer to improve the utilization rate of inorganic fertilizer
and organic fertilizer has become a prominent problem in tea plantations in China, especially in low hilly red soil
areas. In order to provide scientific basis for rational fertilization in red soil hilly tea garden, this experiment
studied the effects of organic fertilizer application ratio with different fertilization structure on soil ecological and
biological effect of tea plant and tea quality and yield, and compared the application effects of different
fertilization structure in red soil hilly tea garden.
3.1 Natural survey of test sites
This experiment is set in the industrial belt of Baili Tea Gallery in Changsha County, Hunan Province. It belongs
to the monsoon climate in the northern margin of the middle subtropical zone. The annual average temperature is
16.5-20.5℃, the monthly average temperature is 11.9℃, the extreme minimum temperature is -5.2℃, the
monthly average temperature is 27.8℃, the extreme maximum temperature is 39℃, the annual average rainfall is
1389 mm, and the rainfall mostly concentrates in January, accounting for 45% of the annual rainfall (Yang et al.
2018). The experimental site is the cooperative experimental base of the Institute of Subtropical Agricultural
Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This study covers a wide range of observation items. All data are
processed by using MATLAB software and analyzed by DPS software.
3.2 Analysis of experimental results
The influence of soil chemical environment on the growth of tea plant is various, among which the acidity,
organic matter content and inorganic nutrient content of soil are the most important factors. The soil acidification
degree of tea garden in hilly red soil is relatively high, which is suitable for the growth of tea trees. Compared
with the non-fertilization treatment, the value of fertilization structure of other species shows a downward trend.
The soil acidification trend of tea garden is more obvious, especially in the pure fertilization treatment.
Magnesium oxide and lime should be used to improve and adjust the soil acidification properly when necessary.
3.2.1 Effects of different fertilizer structure on soil water content in tea garden
The water status of tea garden soil is closely related to soil texture. Various fertilization structures improve soil
structure, increase soil permeability, and increase water content of tea garden soil. After various fertilization

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structures were implemented for many years, the water content of tea garden soil varied greatly. The general trend
was that the water content of organic fertilizer structure was the highest, followed by the structure of pure
chemical fertilizer and white clover without fertilization, and the water content of non-fertilization treatment was
the lowest. This phenomenon was more obvious in months with high temperature and little rain, especially in
summer high temperature drought and autumn persistent drought period. The combination of organic and
inorganic fertilizers has a good defense effect against seasonal drought in tea plantations.
3.2.2 Cluster analysis of soil ecological effects in tea plantations with different fertilization structures
The soil ecological benefits of tea plantations with different fertilization structures can be divided into three
categories. T1, T2 and T3 treatments were the first, and the ecological benefits of tea garden soil were the best;
T4 and T5 treatments were the second, followed by tea garden soil ecological benefits; T6 and T7 treatments
were the third, and the ecological benefits of tea garden soil were poor. Figure 1 shows the longest distance
clustering structure of soil ecological factors with different fertilization structures.

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7
0.00 0.55 1.11 1.66 2.21 2.77

Figure 1 The longest distance clustering structure of soil ecological factors with different fertilization
structures
Figure 1 showed that the application of organic fertilizer improves the soil chemical environment, physical
environment and biological environment, and improves the ecological effect of tea garden soil.

4 Discussion
In the fertilization structure treatment, the fertilization structure treatment increased the nutrient content of all
kinds of soil in varying degrees. From the ecological effects of tea garden soil, the growth of tea planting on the
ground and underground parts, and the quality and yield of tea, the clustering analysis of the fertilization structure
was carried out. It was concluded that the structure of seed organic fertilization was better than that of pure
chemical fertilization and two non-fertilization treatments. Among them, organic fertilizer and inorganic fertilizer
were the best treatments, and could be widely popularized and implemented in subtropical hilly tea garden.

5 Conclusion
There are many reports on the application of organic and inorganic fertilizers in tea gardens, but most of them
focus on improving soil physicochemical properties, tea quality and increasing tea yield, and the research is short.
In this paper, the application of organic fertilizer structure, pure chemical fertilizer, intercropping white clover
without fertilization and complete no fertilization research has long-term and strict fertilization schemes to carry
out post-sampling analysis, systematic and comprehensive characteristics. The research content not only has soil
ecological effects, tea quality and yield, but also studies related to the growth of underground and partial parts of
tea trees based on the characteristics of tea tree growth.Preliminary results have been achieved and follow-up
research will be further explored.

Acknowledgements

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This work was supported by Henan Provincial Department of Science And Technology Project
(No.182102110242); Henan Provincial Department of Education (14A210023) Project.

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