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Intercropping is a widely recognised technique that contributes to agricultural sustainability. While intercropping leguminous green manure offers advantages for soil health and tea plants growth, the impact on the accumulation of theanine and soil nitrogen cycle are largely unknown. The levels of theanine, epigallocatechin gallate and soluble sugar in tea leaves increased by 52.87% and 40.98%, 22.80% and 6.17%, 22.22% and 29.04% in intercropping with soybean–Chinese milk vetch rotation and soybean alone, respectively. Additionally, intercropping significantly increased soil amino acidnitrogen content, enhanced extracellular enzyme activities, particularly β‐glucosidase and N‐acetyl‐glucosaminidase, as well as soil multifunctionality. Metagenomics analysis revealed that intercropping positively influenced the relative abundances of several potentially beneficial microorganisms, including Burkholderia, Mycolicibacterium and Paraburkholderia. Intercropping resulted in lower expression levels of nitrification genes, reducing soil mineral nitrogen loss and N2O emissions. The expression of nrfA/H significantly increased in intercropping with soybean–Chinese milk vetch rotation. Structural equation model analysis demonstrated that the accumulation of theanine in tea leaves was directly influenced by the number of intercropping leguminous green manure species, soil ammonium nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen. In summary, the intercropping strategy, particularly intercropping with soybean–Chinese milk vetch rotation, could be a novel way for theanine accumulation. Summary statement: The theanine content of tea leaves increased by 52.87% and 40.98% when intercropped with soybean–Chinese milk vetch rotation and soybean alone, respectively. The accumulation of theanine in tea leaves was directly influenced by the intercropping green manure species and their quantity, as well as the levels of soil ammonium nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms play essential roles in soil-ecosystem multifunctionality. However, the contribution of their community assembly processes, composition, diversity, and keystone species to ecosystem multifunctionality is unclear, especially in tea-plantation ecosystems. In order to assess the effects of various intercropping patterns (tea-plant monoculture and tea plants, respectively, intercropped with soybean, soybean—milk vetch, soybean—red clover, and soybean—smooth vetch) on soil rare and abundant taxa, a field experiment was carried out. We found that tea plantation intercropping with legumes improved the soil-ecosystem multifunctionality by altering the soil environment, and ultimately benefited nutrient absorption and quality improvement of tea leaves. Whether it was in bacteria or fungi, rare taxa had a higher proportion of deterministic processes in community assembly than abundant taxa. Additionally, intercropping practices changed the soil environment, and rare bacterial taxa were assembled and shifted from variable selection to homogeneous dispersal. Intercropping practices significantly changed the bacterial and fungal communities' composition, and rare taxa had higher α-diversity than abundant taxa. Increasing legume species in intercropping practice enhanced community dissimilarity to the tea monoculture by affecting soil pH, ammonium nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen. Rare bacterial and fungal β-diversity exhibited stronger positive relationships with ecosystem multifunctionality (both average and multi-threshold approaches) compared to the corresponding abundant taxa. Furthermore, ecosystem multifunctionality under different intercropping practices was closely related to the keystone rare operational taxonomic units, especially rare bacterial species of Chloroflexi. Our results emphasize the disparate feedbacks of rare and abundant taxa to diverse intercropping practices, as well as the important connection between rare bacterial taxa and ecosystem multifunctionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intercropping, especially with legumes, as a productive and sustainable system, can promote plants growth and improves the soil quality than the sole crop, is an essential cultivation pattern in modern agricultural systems. However, the metabolic changes of secondary metabolites and the growth in tea plants during the processing of intercropping with soybean have not been fully analyzed. Results: The secondary metabolomic of the tea plants were significant influence with intercropping soybean during the different growth stages. Especially in the profuse flowering stage of intercropping soybean, the biosynthesis of amino acids was significantly impacted, and the flavonoid biosynthesis, the flavone and flavonol biosynthesis also were changed. And the expression of metabolites associated with amino acids metabolism, particularly glutamate, glutamine, lysine and arginine were up-regulated, while the expression of the sucrose and D-Glucose-6P were down-regulated. Furthermore, the chlorophyll photosynthetic parameters and the photosynthetic activity of tea plants were higher in the tea plants-soybean intercropping system. Conclusions: These results strengthen our understanding of the metabolic mechanisms in tea plant's secondary metabolites under the tea plants-soybean intercropping system and demonstrate that the intercropping system of leguminous crops is greatly potential to improve tea quality. These may provide the basis for reducing the application of nitrogen fertilizer and improve the ecosystem in tea plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercropping is an important agroforestry practice that can not only increase biodiversity, improve microenvironment and resource utilization, but also improve crop yield and quality. In this paper, the soil environmental characteristics and tea quality of three tea-fruit intercropping patterns (loquat-tea, waxberry-tea, and citrus-tea) and pure tea garden were studied. The soil samples of 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm depths in different seasons (spring and autumn) were collected to analyze the physicochemical characteristics of the soil. Corresponding tea bud samples in spring were collected for the determination of the main chemical components. The soil nutrient of the three intercropping patterns was higher than that of the single tea plantation, while the heavy metal content and pH value were opposite. Moreover, the difference in soil nutrient and pH under intercropping patterns were correlated with the sampling period. The tea plantation under intercropping patterns had higher free amino acid content, lower catechins content and the ratio of phenol to amino acids, which is conducive to the formation of green tea quality. Under the patterns of loquat-tea intercropping and citrus-tea intercropping, soil nutrients were higher than that of waxberry-tea intercropping. For the tea plantation soil heavy metals, waxberry-tea intercropping and citrus-tea intercropping had lower concentration than that of loquat-tea intercropping. However, citrus-tea intercropping is superior to the other two intercropping patterns for tea quality. These results may enhance the understanding of tea-fruit intercropping patterns for improving the soil environment of tea plantation and the quality of tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercropping has been recommended as a beneficial cropping practice for improving soil characteristic and tea quality. However, there is limited research on the effects of intercropping fruit trees on soil chemical properties, soil aggregate structure, and tea quality components. In this study, intercropping fruit trees, specifically loquats and citrus, had a significant impact on the total available nutrients, AMN, and AP in soil. During spring and autumn seasons, the soil large-macroaggregates (>2 mm) proportion increased by 5.93% and 19.03%, as well as 29.23% and 19.14%, respectively, when intercropping loquats and citrus. Similarly, intercropping waxberry resulted in a highest small-macroaggregates (0.25 mm–2 mm) proportion at 54.89% and 77.32%. Soil aggregate stability parameters of the R 0.25 , MWD, and GMD were generally considered better soil aggregate stability indicators, and significantly improved in intercropping systems. Intercropping waxberry with higher values for those aggregate stability parameters and lower D values, showed a better soil aggregate distribution, while intercropping loquats and citrus at higher levels of AMN and AP in different soil aggregate sizes. As the soil aggregate sizes increased, the AMN and AP contents gradually decreased. Furthermore, the enhanced levels of amino acids were observed under loquat, waxberry, and citrus intercropping in spring, which increased by 27.98%, 27.35%, and 26.21%, respectively. The contents of tea polyphenol and caffeine were lower under loquat and citrus intercropping in spring. These findings indicated that intercropping fruit trees, specifically loquat and citrus, have immense potential in promoting the green and sustainable development of tea plantations. • Intercropping fruit trees increase soil total available nutrients, AMN and AP. • Intercropping loquat and citrus significant increase >2 mm soil large aggregate. • Intercropping waxberry showed a better distribution of soil aggregates. • Intercropping loquat and citrus increase AMN and AP in different aggregate sizes. • Intercropping enhanced tea quality, especially intercropping loquat and citrus in spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]