Nutrient Contents of Soils at Tea Plantations in Xiapu County, Fujian

A total of221 soil samples collected from the tea plantations in three major tea producing townships including Baiyang, Chongru, and Shuimen in Xiapu County, Fujian were analyzed for their contents of nutrients. The results showed that (1) the mean pH of the soils was 4.2, with 81% of being lower than 4.5, indicating a serious soil acidification existed at the plantations; (2) the average content of organic matters was 33.1 g/kg, with 87.78% of the samples qualified for high quality and high yield tea production, indicating a rich organic matter content of the soils; (3) the average content of alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen was 192.3 mg/kg, that of available phosphorus, 6.0 mg/kg, and that of available potassium83 mg/kg; and in regard to those nutrients, 97.74%, 6.33%, and 18.10%, respectively, of the plantations met the standards for high quality and high yield tea production; and, (4) in general, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen in the soils was rich, while available phosphorus and potassium low.