ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
This article is part of the Research TopicStress-Responsive Microbiome of Horticultural Plants: Diversity, Functions, and Application ProspectsView all 3 articles
Differences in abundance and functional intensity of characteristic microorganisms of tea plant rhizosphere soils contribute to the differentiation of tea quality in different rocky zones
Provisionally accepted
Xiaoli Jia1*
Yiling Chen2Yuhua Wang3Shaoxiong Lin2,4Mingzhe Li2Tingting Wang2Pengyuan Cheng4Bitong Zhu1
Qi Zhang1Jianghua Ye1
Wang Haibin2- 1Wuyi University, Wuyishan, China
- 2Longyan University, Longyan, China
- 3Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
- 4Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China
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The formation of Wuyi rock tea's “rock flavor” exhibits distinct zonal characteristics, potentially closely related to differences in its rhizosphere microbial communities. This study systematically analyzed rhizosphere soil and leaf samples from tea plants in authentic rocky zone (ZY), semi-rock zone (BY), and continent zone (ZC) zones to uncover the microbiological mechanisms influencing tea quality. Results revealed significant gradient differences in tea quality indicators (catechin, theanine, and caffeine content) following ZY > BY > ZC. Soil physicochemical analysis revealed that ZY exhibited the highest contents of available nitrogen and phosphorus, while ZC demonstrated superior organic matter content. Microbial community analysis indicated that ZY possessed the highest microbial functional diversity but the lowest network complexity, with community construction dominated by random processes. Through machine deep learning, the study identified Obscuribacteraceae and Psoroglaena as two key characteristic microbial genera, whose abundance showed significant positive correlations with tea quality indicators. Functional prediction analysis further indicated that these two genera were significantly enriched in specialized pathways such as photosynthesis and lichenization. Moreover, the abundance of these characteristic microorganims showed significant positive correlations with their corresponding functional intensities, soil physicochemical indicators, and tea quality. This study elucidated the soil microbial ecological basis for the formation of Wuyi rock tea quality across different rock zones from the perspectives of microbial community construction mechanisms and functional property. It provides theoretical support for understanding tea plant-soil-microorganim interactions and precision management in tea plantations.
Keywords: Wuyi Rock Tea, rock zone differences, Characteristic microorganisms, Functions, Tea quality
Received: 12 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jia, Chen, Wang, Lin, Li, Wang, Cheng, Zhu, Zhang, Ye and Haibin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoli Jia, jiaxl2010@126.com
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