Demonstration Summary of Yishizhuang Special Fertilizer for Tea - Enshi Lichuan

Demonstration Summary of "Yishizhuang" Special Fertilizer for Tea

--- Soil and Fertilizer Station of Lichuan City

I. Demonstration Objectives

Lichuan City is located in the southwest of Hubei Province, in the hinterland of the Wuling Mountain area, and is part of the eastward extension of the Yunnan - Guizhou Plateau. The average altitude is about 1,100m. The tea industry is one of the pillar industries in Lichuan. Tea gardens are mostly distributed between 600m and 1,200m above sea level. The cultivated land in Lichuan is mostly acidic, with a large altitude drop and many clouds and mists in the mountains. The soil and climate conditions are especially suitable for the growth of tea trees. Tea trees have a long - standing cultivation history in Lichuan, starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty, gradually flourishing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and once being listed as a royal tribute. Large - scale contiguous planting began in 1953. In recent years, the Lichuan Municipal Party Committee and the government have paid more attention to the development of the tea industry. In accordance with the development ideas of large - scale, high - quality and ecological development, the scale of tea gardens has been continuously expanded. In 2014, the area of tea gardens in the city was 208,000 mu, in 2015 it was 228,000 mu, and in 2016, the annual reported area of tea gardens exceeded 240,000 mu, increasing by nearly 20,000 mu every year. The top five towns and townships are: Maoba with 118,000 mu, Zhonglu with 55,000 mu, Shaxi with 26,000 mu, Wendou with 18,000 mu, and Baiyang with 8,000 mu. There are currently 167 tea processing enterprises of various sizes and 87 tea professional cooperatives in the city. The total output of tea is more than 14,500 tons, and the total output value is 565 million yuan.

However, problems such as a sharp increase in fertilizer use, an irrational fertilizer structure, and an imbalance in nutrient ratios have become increasingly prominent. The tea leaves have become thinner, and the cold resistance has decreased, seriously affecting the yield and quality of tea, and even leading to a decline in efficiency. A survey in 2015 found that the fertilization of tea in Lichuan was extremely unbalanced. The maximum application rates of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium per mu reached: N 111.4kg, P2O5 77.7kg, K2O 77.7kg, which is equivalent to applying 242kg of urea, 647kg of superphosphate, and 155kg of potassium sulfate per mu, while the average application of organic fertilizer was only 162.5kg per mu. In tea fertilization, problems such as "emphasizing chemical fertilizers over organic fertilizers, chaotic compound fertilizer ratios, and a small application area of special fertilizers" are prominent; in the application of chemical fertilizers, the old tea - producing areas emphasize nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers and neglect potassium fertilizers, while the newly developed areas are accustomed to applying general - purpose compound fertilizers with equal ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, resulting in serious waste of phosphorus and potassium.

In order to guide the majority of tea farmers to quickly apply special formula fertilizers and gradually change the bad habits of "emphasizing nitrogen and phosphorus, neglecting potassium and micronutrients" or "using equal - ratio compound fertilizers", Hubei Yishizhuang Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. has actively participated in the soil - testing and formula - fertilization work in Lichuan, and carried out large - scale and multi - point demonstrations of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea to verify the scientific nature and application effect of its formula on Lichuan tea.

II. Materials and Methods

1.Demonstration Sites

The demonstration sites are required to be in the core area of concentrated and contiguous tea gardens, with a wide radiation range and convenient transportation. Priority is given to the areas that are necessary for rural market - going, and eye - catching signboards are set up to improve the display effect. Therefore, three villages, Chengchi, Zhuba, and Heilin, were selected. They have a relatively high management level, a large area of tea gardens, are concentrated and contiguous, and have a good display effect. The demonstration households are selected as those with a high understanding of formula fertilization, a high enthusiasm for demonstrating "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea, a great influence in the local area, and playing the role of a leader or a pacesetter, such as large - scale growers or science and technology demonstration households. Young - age to full - production - period tea gardens are selected, with the tree age required to be no more than 10 years, with neat growth, and tea gardens over 10 years old are not selected.

2.Demonstration Design

The design is based on the equal - capital - input of fertilizers per unit area (calculated according to the local retail price). The application rate of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea is 100kg per mu, which is equivalent to an input of 287.5 yuan per mu; the application rate of the control (CK) fertilizer is converted according to this price. Five tea farmers were demonstrated, and compared with six different habitual fertilization treatments, with a demonstration area of 21.6 mu.
Treatment 1 (formula fertilization): 100kg/mu of 38% (18 - 8 - 12) "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea;
Treatment 2 (habitual fertilization): General - purpose compound fertilizer type,

a - 96kg/mu of 45% (15 - 15 - 15) compound fertilizer (3 yuan/kg)

b - 65kg of 40% (10 - 10 - 20) tobacco fertilizer (4.4 yuan/kg),

c - 100kg/mu of 40% (15 - 10 - 15) compound fertilizer (2.9 yuan/kg),

d - 90kg/mu of 51% (17 - 17 - 17) compound fertilizer (3.2 yuan/kg),

e - 72kg/mu of 45% (25 - 10 - 10) compound fertilizer (4 yuan/kg),

f - High - nitrogen - phosphorus and low - potassium type, 84kg/mu of urea (3 yuan/kg)+50kg/mu of superphosphate (0.7 yuan/kg).

3.Field Management
The fertilizers for each treatment in the demonstration were applied twice, each accounting for 50%. The first application was before the middle of January, and the second was around the middle of May. Other field management measures such as pest, disease, and weed control were exactly the same for different treatments in the same demonstration site and were carried out according to the specific conditions and habits of each site.

4.Tea Harvest
The spring tea was harvested starting from the end of March, and the summer tea harvest ended in the middle of July. The fresh leaf yield was counted by plot in batches. There is no habit of harvesting autumn tea in Zhonglu Town.

5.Statistical Analysis
All demonstration results were statistically analyzed using Excel.

III. Results and Analysis

1.The Impact of "Yishizhuang" Special Fertilizer for Tea on Tea Yield
The fresh leaf yield results of six different habitual fertilization treatments at five demonstration sites were compared with those of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea, as shown in Table 3. The application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea increased the yield compared with habitual fertilization, with an increase range of 3.76% - 17.87%, and an average increase of 9.23%. The increase in yield of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea was the highest compared with that of tobacco fertilizer, followed by the treatment without potassium fertilizer, then the c, a, and d treatments. The yield difference was the smallest for the e treatment, whose nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio was similar to that of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea. Through paired - sample t - test (Table 4), the difference in tea yield between the application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea and local habitual fertilization reached an extremely significant level. This shows that the combined application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is beneficial to the increase in tea yield. For the tea gardens in Lichuan, nitrogen is more important than potassium, potassium is more important than phosphorus, and the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea is the most reasonable.

2.The Impact of "Yishizhuang" Special Fertilizer for Tea on Tea Benefits

The application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea in tea has obvious benefits. The benefit comparison of each demonstration site is shown in Table 5. Because it is designed according to the equivalent - input per unit area, the input per mu of formula fertilization is 287.5 yuan, and the input per mu of habitual fertilization is about 288 yuan, with a difference of no more than 3 yuan per mu. Calculated at an average price of 10 yuan/kg for fresh tea leaves, the application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea increased the income by 230 - 915 yuan per mu compared with habitual fertilization, with an average increase of 517.5 yuan per mu.

3.The Impact of "Yishizhuang" Special Fertilizer for Tea on the Economic Traits of Tea

The weight of 100 buds and the bud density are the main economic indicators of tea yield. The bud density and the weight of 100 buds of different treatments at each demonstration site were measured when harvesting Guyu tea. The results are shown in Table 6. The sum of the increase in bud density and the increase in the weight of 100 buds is in good agreement with the increase in tea yield. Compared with habitual fertilization, the application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea increased the bud density and the weight of 100 buds by an average of 7.7 buds/m² and 1.15g respectively. The increase in tea yield mainly comes from the increase in bud density, and the increase in the weight of 100 buds is not large, not exceeding 5%.

4.The Impact of "Yishizhuang" Special Fertilizer for Tea on the Appearance Traits of Tea

Through the observation at each demonstration site and the feel during picking, compared with habitual fertilization, the application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea makes the tea buds more neat and uniform, the leaf color darker green, the leaf growth slightly stronger, the leaf flesh thicker, and the tenderness retention better.

IV. Conclusions and Discussions
Tea trees are acid - loving and acid - tolerant plants. Generally, tea trees can grow normally when the soil pH value is between 4.0 - 6.5, and the most suitable soil pH range is 4.5 - 5.5. The pH value of cultivated land in Lichuan is mostly below 5.5, and the advantage of soil acidity and alkalinity for the development of the tea industry is obvious. Tea trees have characteristics such as diversity, ammonium - preference, aluminum - accumulation, chlorine - aversion, and calcium - aversion in their demand for mineral elements. When the calcium content in the soil (calculated as CaO) exceeds 0.5%, tea trees cannot grow normally. Tea trees are leaf - picking crops. The rational application of nitrogen - based fertilizers with appropriate phosphorus and potassium is beneficial to the improvement of tea yield and quality. A large number of experiments have shown that the appropriate ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for adult tea trees is N:P2O5:K2O = 1:0.4:0.7. When the fresh leaf yield per mu is 450kg, generally 16 - 20kg of nitrogen fertilizer (N) needs to be applied, and the average application rates of N, P2O5, and K2O are 18, 7, and 11kg respectively, which is basically the same as the ratio of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea.

The results of this multi - point demonstration show that the application of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea in tea can increase yield and income, and the economic benefits are obvious. When fertilizing according to the equivalent - input per unit area, applying 100kg of "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea per mu is significantly better than local different types of habitual fertilization. The fresh leaf yield can be increased by 23 - 91.5kg per mu, the net output value can be increased by 230 - 915 yuan per mu, with an increase range of 3.76% - 17.87%. The average fresh leaf yield is increased by 51.8kg per mu, the net income is increased by 517.5 yuan per mu, and the increase rate is 9.23%.

The scientific and reasonable ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea, as well as the appropriate addition of organic matter and medium and trace elements, are not only beneficial to the improvement of the weight of 100 buds and the bud density of tea, thus increasing the tea yield, but also beneficial to the improvement of the appearance quality of tea, such as the neatness, uniformity, leaf color, leaf thickness, and tenderness retention of tea buds. It effectively solves the "short - board" problems in the habitual fertilization of tea production in Lichuan, such as the irrational ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the insufficient application of organic fertilizers, and the neglect of the application of medium and trace elements. Therefore, "Yishizhuang" special fertilizer for tea is worthy of large - scale promotion and application in Lichuan and areas with similar soil and climate conditions.