Foliar N Application on Tea Plant at Its Dormancy Stage Increases the N Concentration of Mature Leaves and Improves the Quality and Yield of Spring Tea
Over 30% of the Chinese tea plantation is supplied with excess fertilizer, especially nitrogen (N) fertilizer. Whether or not foliar N application on tea plants at the dormancy stage could improve the quality of spring tea and be a complementary strategy to reduce soil fertilization level remains un...
Saved in:
Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 12; p. 753086 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Frontiers Media S.A
15.10.2021
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Over 30% of the Chinese tea plantation is supplied with excess fertilizer, especially nitrogen (N) fertilizer. Whether or not foliar N application on tea plants at the dormancy stage could improve the quality of spring tea and be a complementary strategy to reduce soil fertilization level remains unclear. In this study, the effects of foliar N application on tea plants were investigated by testing the types of fertilizers and their application times, and by applying foliar N under a reduced soil fertilization level using field and
15
N-labeling pot experiments. Results showed that the foliar N application of amino acid liquid fertilizer two times at the winter dormancy stage was enough to significantly increase the N concentration of the mature leaves and improved the quality of spring tea. The foliar application of 2% urea or liquid amino acid fertilizer two times at the winter dormancy stage and two times at the spring dormancy stage showed the best performance in tea plants among the other foliar N fertilization methods, as it reduced the soil fertilization levels in tea plantations without decreasing the total N concentration of the mature leaves or deteriorating the quality of spring tea. Therefore, foliar N application on tea plants at its dormancy stage increases the N concentration of the mature leaves, improves the quality and yield of spring tea, and could be a complementary strategy to reduce soil fertilization levels. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Xuexian Li, China Agricultural University, China; Joska Gerendas, University of Kiel, Germany This article was submitted to Plant Nutrition, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science Edited by: Lixing Yuan, China Agricultural University, China |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2021.753086 |