Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China
Ancient tea plantations possess extremely important economic and cultivation value. In China, ancient tea plantations with trees over 100 years old have been preserved. However, the status of soil microorganisms, soil fertility, and soil heavy metal pollution in these ancient tea plantations remains...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Jiaxin Li Wei Huang Xinyuan Lin Waqar Khan Hongbo Zhao Binmei Sun Shaoqun Liu Peng Zheng |
| author_facet | Jiaxin Li Wei Huang Xinyuan Lin Waqar Khan Hongbo Zhao Binmei Sun Shaoqun Liu Peng Zheng |
| author_sort | Jiaxin Li |
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| description | Ancient tea plantations possess extremely important economic and cultivation value. In China, ancient tea plantations with trees over 100 years old have been preserved. However, the status of soil microorganisms, soil fertility, and soil heavy metal pollution in these ancient tea plantations remains unclear. This study took four Dancong ancient tea plantations in Fenghuang, Chaozhou City, and Guangdong Province as the research objects. Soil samples were collected from the surface layer (0–20 cm) and subsurface layer (20–40 cm) of the ancient tea trees. The rhizosphere soil microbial diversity and soil nutrients were determined. On this basis, the soil fertility was evaluated by referring to the soil environmental quality standards so as to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the soil in the Dancong ancient tea plantations. This study found that <i>Proteobacteria</i>, <i>Acidobacteriota</i>, <i>Chloroflexi</i>, and <i>Actinobacteria</i> were the dominant bacteria in the rhizosphere soil of the Dancong ancient tree tea plantation. <i>Ascomycota</i> and <i>Mortierellomycota</i> are the dominant fungal phyla. <i>Subgroup_2</i>, <i>AD3</i>, <i>Acidothermus</i>, and <i>Acidibacter</i> were the dominant bacterial genera. <i>Saitozyma</i>, <i>Mortierella</i>, and <i>Fusarium</i> are the dominant fungal genera. The redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that at the bacterial phylum level, <i>Verrucomicrobia</i> showed positive correlations with alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), available potassium (AK), and total nitrogen (TN); <i>Proteobacteria</i> exhibited a positive correlation with available phosphorus (AP); and <i>Gemmatimonadetes</i> was positively correlated with total potassium (TK). At the fungal phylum level, <i>Ascomycota</i> demonstrated a positive correlation with TK. TN, AN, and TK were identified as key physicochemical indicators influencing soil bacterial diversity, while TN, AN, AP, and AK were the key physicochemical indicators affecting soil fungal diversity. This study revealed that the soil of Dancong ancient tea plantations has reached Level I fertility in terms of TN, TP, SOM, and AP. TK and AN show Level I or near-Level I fertility, but AK only meets Level III fertility for tea planting, serving as the main limiting factor for soil fertility quality. Considering the relatively abundant TK content in the tea plantations, potassium-solubilizing bacteria should be prioritized over blind potassium fertilizer application. Meanwhile, it is particularly noteworthy that AN and SOM are at extremely high levels. Sustained excess of AN and SOM may lead to over-proliferation of dominant microorganisms, inhibition of other functional microbial communities, and disruption of ecological balance. Therefore, optimizing nutrient input methods during fertilization is recommended. |
| format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj-art-0027f010d19b4d7ca9c379bee77e0ea12025-08-20T03:55:48ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952025-06-01157160810.3390/agronomy15071608Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of ChinaJiaxin Li0Wei Huang1Xinyuan Lin2Waqar Khan3Hongbo Zhao4Binmei Sun5Shaoqun Liu6Peng Zheng7College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, ChinaAncient tea plantations possess extremely important economic and cultivation value. In China, ancient tea plantations with trees over 100 years old have been preserved. However, the status of soil microorganisms, soil fertility, and soil heavy metal pollution in these ancient tea plantations remains unclear. This study took four Dancong ancient tea plantations in Fenghuang, Chaozhou City, and Guangdong Province as the research objects. Soil samples were collected from the surface layer (0–20 cm) and subsurface layer (20–40 cm) of the ancient tea trees. The rhizosphere soil microbial diversity and soil nutrients were determined. On this basis, the soil fertility was evaluated by referring to the soil environmental quality standards so as to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the soil in the Dancong ancient tea plantations. This study found that <i>Proteobacteria</i>, <i>Acidobacteriota</i>, <i>Chloroflexi</i>, and <i>Actinobacteria</i> were the dominant bacteria in the rhizosphere soil of the Dancong ancient tree tea plantation. <i>Ascomycota</i> and <i>Mortierellomycota</i> are the dominant fungal phyla. <i>Subgroup_2</i>, <i>AD3</i>, <i>Acidothermus</i>, and <i>Acidibacter</i> were the dominant bacterial genera. <i>Saitozyma</i>, <i>Mortierella</i>, and <i>Fusarium</i> are the dominant fungal genera. The redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that at the bacterial phylum level, <i>Verrucomicrobia</i> showed positive correlations with alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), available potassium (AK), and total nitrogen (TN); <i>Proteobacteria</i> exhibited a positive correlation with available phosphorus (AP); and <i>Gemmatimonadetes</i> was positively correlated with total potassium (TK). At the fungal phylum level, <i>Ascomycota</i> demonstrated a positive correlation with TK. TN, AN, and TK were identified as key physicochemical indicators influencing soil bacterial diversity, while TN, AN, AP, and AK were the key physicochemical indicators affecting soil fungal diversity. This study revealed that the soil of Dancong ancient tea plantations has reached Level I fertility in terms of TN, TP, SOM, and AP. TK and AN show Level I or near-Level I fertility, but AK only meets Level III fertility for tea planting, serving as the main limiting factor for soil fertility quality. Considering the relatively abundant TK content in the tea plantations, potassium-solubilizing bacteria should be prioritized over blind potassium fertilizer application. Meanwhile, it is particularly noteworthy that AN and SOM are at extremely high levels. Sustained excess of AN and SOM may lead to over-proliferation of dominant microorganisms, inhibition of other functional microbial communities, and disruption of ecological balance. Therefore, optimizing nutrient input methods during fertilization is recommended.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1608soil nutrientsancient tea plantationstea plantation soilsrhizosphere microorganism |
| spellingShingle | Jiaxin Li Wei Huang Xinyuan Lin Waqar Khan Hongbo Zhao Binmei Sun Shaoqun Liu Peng Zheng Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China Agronomy soil nutrients ancient tea plantations tea plantation soils rhizosphere microorganism |
| title | Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China |
| title_full | Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China |
| title_fullStr | Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China |
| title_short | Study on Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Diversity in Ancient Tea Plantations of China |
| title_sort | study on soil nutrients and microbial community diversity in ancient tea plantations of china |
| topic | soil nutrients ancient tea plantations tea plantation soils rhizosphere microorganism |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1608 |
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