ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4725-5399
Current Organisations
Qingdao Agricultural University
,
Murdoch University
,
Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 14-12-2022
Abstract: Accurate and effective monitoring of environmental parameters in tea seedling greenhouses is an important basis for regulating the seedling environment, which is crucial for improving the seedling growth quality. This study proposes a tea seedling growth simulation (TSGS) model based on deep learning. The Internet of Things system was used to measure environmental change during the whole seedling process. The correlation between the environmental parameters and the biomass growth of tea seedlings in various varieties was analyzed. A CNN-LSTM network was proposed to build the TSGS model of light, temperature, water, gas, mineral nutrition, and growth biomass. The results showed that: (1) the average correlation coefficients of air temperature, soil temperature, and soil moisture with the biomass growth of tea seedlings were 0.78, 0.84, and −0.63, respectively, which were three important parameters for establishing the TSGS model. (2) For evaluating the TSGS model of a single variety, the accuracy of ZM’s TSGS based on the CNN-LSTM network was the highest (Rp2 = 0.98, RMSEP = 0.14). (3) For evaluating the TSGS model of multiple varieties, the accuracy of TSGS based on the CNN-LSTM network was the highest (Rp2 = 0.96, RMSEP = 0.17). This study provided effective technical parameters for intelligent control of tea-cutting growth and a new method for rapid breeding.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 17-10-2022
Abstract: Nitrogen is essential for the growth and quality formation of tea plants. Excessive and inefficient use of nitrogen fertilizer leads to cost increases and ecosystem pollution. It is important to improve the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) for tea plantation. Breeding high-NUE varieties by marker-assisted selection using NUE-associated genes is a viable approach. However, few molecular markers related to nitrogen uptake and utilization have been identified in tea plants. In this study, a total of 2554 SNP loci within NUE-related genes were identified in a database. Of the non-synonymous SNPs, 46 were successfully converted to KASP markers. These markers were deployed on 35 tea germplasms to assess their suitability and accuracy in genetic analysis. The results show that 42 markers exhibited polymorphisms and the PIC values ranged from 0.05 to 0.38. The clustering results of the phylogenetic tree was basically consistent with the phenotype, showing that tea germplasms with high nitrogen accumulation and large biomass were grouped into one cluster. Using these markers, the fingerprints of these germplasms were constructed. The preliminary association analysis showed that there were two SNPs (CsSNP07 and CsSNP11) within CsNRT2.4 (CSS0001304) that were significantly associated with nitrogen accumulation (F = 4.631, P = 0.039 and F = 3.054, p = 0.047) and one SNP (CsSNP40) within CsAAP6 (CSS0035405) that was significantly associated with biomass (F = 3.842, p = 0.032). These functional SNP-KASP markers will be valuable for the early evaluation of tea germplasms and could accelerate the breeding of high-NUE varieties.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 13-10-2021
DOI: 10.3390/MOLECULES26206180
Abstract: Traditionally, the supplement of organic manure in tea plantations has been a common approach to improving soil fertility and promoting terroir compounds, as manifested by the coordinated increase in yield and quality for the resulting teas. However, information regarding the effect of organic manure in the metabolome of tea plants is still inadequate. The metabolite profiles of tea shoots applied with cow manure, urea or no fertilizer were studied using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In total, 73 metabolites were detected, and the modulated metabolites included mainly amino acids, organic acids and fatty acids. In particular, glutamine, quinic acid and proline accumulated more in tea shoots in soils treated with cow manure, but octadecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid and eicosanoic acid were drastically reduced. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that organic acids and amino acids in tea shoots were the two major metabolite groups among the three treatments. The analysis of metabolic pathways demonstrated that the cow manure treatment significantly changed the enrichment of pathways related to amino acids, sugars and fatty acids. Sensory evaluation showed that the quality of green teas was higher when the plants used to make the tea were grown in soil treated with cow manure rather than urea during spring and late summer. The results indicated that the application of cow manure in soils changed the metabolic characteristics of tea shoots and improved the qualities of the resulting teas.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 25-02-2022
Abstract: Aroma substances are the most crucial criteria for the sensory evaluation of tea quality, and also key attractors influencing consumers to make the decision for purchasing tea. Understanding the aromatic properties of tea infusion during different brewing time is crucial to control the tea aromatic quality. Here, headspace and direct immersion solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME and DI-SPME), coupled with GC-MS, were employed to investigate the impact of brewing time on the changes of the volatile features of green tea infusion. Esters, aldehydes, alcohols, fatty acids, and alkaloids were the predominant volatile groups from tea infusions. Two to three minutes was identified as the best duration for the tea brewing that can maximize the abundance of aromatic chemicals in the headspace emitted from the tea infusions. The variation of the key aromatic contributors between the tea infusion and the headspace over the infusion tended to equilibrate during the tea brewing process. This study provides a theory-based reference method by analyzing the real-time aromatic characteristics in green tea. The optimal time was determined for aromatic quality control, and the complementary relationship between the volatiles in the headspace and its counterpart, tea infusion, was primarily elucidated.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-03-2023
Abstract: Cultivar identification is a necessary step in tea breeding programs. Rapid identification methods would greatly improve these breeding processes. To preliminarily identify the three new Lucha tea varieties (LC6, LC7, and LC17) cultivated in Shandong, we measured their main agronomic characters and biochemical components. Then, we analyzed the metabolic profiles of these tea varieties and Fuding Dabaicha (FD) using a UPLC-ESI-MS/MS system. Their biochemical components indicated that the Lucha varieties had excellent varietal characteristics, with higher amino acid contents. Furthermore, secondary metabolism changed a lot in the Lucha tea varieties compared with that in the FD, with their accumulations of flavonoids and phenolic acids showing significant differences. These differential flavonoids were dominated by flavones and flavanone, flavonols, flavonoid carbonosides, and flavanols monomer. Flavanols especially, including epicatechin glucoside, epicatechin-3-(3″-O-methyl)gallate, epigallocatechin-3-O-(3,5-O-dimethyl)gallate, and epitheaflavic acid-3-O-Gallate, showed higher levels in the Lucha varieties. The phenolic acids containing caffeoyl groups showed higher levels in the Lucha varieties than those in the FD, while those containing galloyl groups showed a reverse pattern. Nitrogen metabolism, including amino acids, also showed obvious differences between the Lucha varieties and FD. The differential amino acids were mainly higher in the Lucha varieties, including 5-L-glutamyl-L-amino acid, N-monomethyl-L-arginine, and N-α-acetyl-L-ornithine. By using these approaches, we found that LC6, LC7, and LC17 were excellent varieties with a high yield and high quality for making green teas in Shandong.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 29-10-2022
DOI: 10.3390/MICROORGANISMS10112149
Abstract: The positive aspects of the tea plant/legume intercropping system draw attention to the Chinese tea industry for its benefit for soil fertility improvement with low fertilizer input. However, limited information exists as to the roles of intercropped legumes in the rhizosphere microbiome and tea quality. Hereby, soybean was selected as the intercropped plant to investigate its effect on bacterial communities, nutrient competition, tea plant development, and tea quality. Our data showed that intercropped soybean boosted the uptake of nitrogen in tea plants and enhanced the growth of young tea shoots. Nutrient competition for phosphorus and potassium in soil existed between soybeans and tea plants. Moreover, tea/soybean intercropping improved tea quality, manifested by a significantly increased content of non-ester type catechins (C, EGC, EC), total catechins and theanine, and decreased content of ester type catechins (EGCG). Significant differences in rhizobacterial composition were also observed under different systems. At the genus level, the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as Bradyrhizobium, Saccharimonadales and Mycobacterium, was significantly increased with the intercropping system, while the relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria, Pseudogulbenkiania, was markedly decreased. Correlation analysis showed that Pseudogulbenkiania, SBR1031, and Burkholderiaceae clustered together showing a similar correlation with soil physicochemical and tea quality characteristics however, other differential bacteria showed the opposite pattern. In conclusion, tea/soybean intercropping improves tea quality and nutrition uptake by increasing the relative abundance of beneficial rhizosphere bacteria and decreasing denitrifying bacteria. This study strengthens our understanding of how intercropping system regulate the soil bacterial community to maintain the health of soils in tea plantations and provides the basis for replacing chemical fertilizers and improving the ecosystem in tea plantations.
No related grants have been discovered for Litao Sun.