| Title: | Influence of reduced N-fertilizer application on foliar chemicals and functional qualities of tea plants under Toxoptera aurantii infestation |
| Author(s): | Pokharel SS; Zhong Y; Changning L; Shen F; Likun L; Parajulee MN; Fang W; Chen F; |
| Address: | "Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China. Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Lubbock, TX79403, USA. Department of Tea Science, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. fangwp@njau.edu.cn. Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China. fajunchen@njau.edu.cn" |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12870-022-03533-9 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2229 (Electronic) 1471-2229 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: The tea aphid, Toxoptera aurantii (Boyer de Fonscolombe) is a polyphagous pest predominant in tea orchards and has become the most pernicious pest deteriorating tea quality. Nitrogen (N) is essential to plant growth improvement, and it can significantly impact plant defensive ability against aphid infestation. This study was designed to quantify the influence of reduced N-fertilizer application on foliar chemicals and functional quality parameters of tea plants against the infestation of T. aurantii. In this study, the tea seedlings (cv. Longjing43) were applied with normal level (NL) of N-fertilizer (240 kg N ha(-1)) along with reduced N-fertilizer levels (70%NL and 50%NL), and with and without T. aurantii infestation. RESULTS: The results showed that N-fertilizer application significantly affected plant biomass and photosynthetic indexes, foliar soluble nutrients and polyphenols, tea catechins, caffeine, essential amino acids, volatile organic compounds of tea seedlings, and the population dynamics of T. aurantii. Compared with the normal N-fertilizer level, the reduced N-fertilizer application (70%NL and 50%NL) significantly decreased all the foliar functional quality components of tea seedlings without aphid infestation, while these components were increased in tea seedlings with aphid infestation. Moreover, the transcript expression levels of foliar functional genes (including CsTCS, CsTs1, and CsGT1) were significantly higher in the NL, and significantly lower in the 50%NL for tea seedlings without aphid infestation, while the transcript expression levels were significantly higher in 50%NL in aphid inoculated tea seedlings. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that the reduced N-fertilizer application could enhance foliar chemicals and functional quality parameters of tea plants especially with T. aurantii infestation, which can relieve soil nitrogen pressure and reduce pesticide use for control of tea aphid infestation in tea plantations" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Aphids *Camellia sinensis/metabolism Fertilizers/analysis Nitrogen/metabolism Tea Foliar chemicals and functional qualities Population abundance Reduced-N fertilizer Tea plants Toxoptera aurantii; |
| Notes: | "MedlinePokharel, Sabin Saurav Zhong, Yanni Changning, Lv Shen, Fangyuan Likun, Li Parajulee, Megha N Fang, Wanping Chen, Fajun eng 31871963 and 31272051/National Natural Science Foundation of China-China Academy of General Technology Joint Fund for Basic Research/ 2017YFD0200400/National Key Research and Development Program of China/ CARS-19/The Chinese Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA/ CX(20)2004/The Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund of China/ KYZ201818/Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities/ 202010307010Z/National Student Research Training (SRT) Program/ England 2022/04/04 BMC Plant Biol. 2022 Apr 2; 22(1):166. doi: 10.1186/s12870-022-03533-9" |
