ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1552759
Biochar-Based Fertilizer Increases Soil Nutrients and Enhances Tea Quality: A Metabolomics-Based Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou, China
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Biochar-based fertilizers (BF) have emerged as a promising strategy to improve soil physicochemical and biological properties, thereby enhancing tea yield and quality. Here, a field experiment was conducted using two types of BF-ordinary BF (BF1, containing 15% biochar) and optimized BF (BF2, containing 30% biochar)-applied for either 1 or 2 years. The effects on the soil nutrients, tea plant growth, tea quality, and metabolomics profiles were assessed. Results showed that BF application significantly increased soil pH and nutrient availability, as well as the bud length and hundred-bud weight (p < 0.05). Notably, BF2 applied for 2 years significantly increased the content of free amino acids, total flavonoids, soluble sugar, while reduced the phenol-ammonia ratio (p < 0.05), thereby improving tea quality. Further metabolomics analysis revealed that BF2 treatment significantly elevated the levels of amino acids, including theanine, threonine, proline, valine, and glutamic acid, while decreasing catechins including C, EC, and EGCG, thus leading to reduced bitterness and astringency and enhanced freshness. Besides, differential metabolites were mainly involved in amino acid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. Taken together, prolonged BF2 application significantly improved soil fertility, promoted tea growth, and enriched flavor-related metabolites, offering valuable insights for optimizing fertilization strategies in tea plantations.
Keywords: biochar-based fertilizer1, soil nutrients2, tea plant growth3, tea quality4, Metabolomics5
Received: 29 Dec 2024; Accepted: 06 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Ren, zhu, Yang, Ye, Tian and Ma. 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:
Luming Tian, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou, China
Jiawei Ma, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou, China
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