Elsevier

Pedosphere

Volume 16, Issue 6, December 2006, Pages 770-777
Pedosphere

Environmental Problems From Tea Cultivation in Japan and a Control Measure Using Calcium Cyanamide1

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0160(06)60113-6Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

A field experiment, involving lime N (calcium cyanamide, CaCN2) fertilization as a control measure, was conducted to study environmental problems induced by long-term heavy N application in Japanese tea fields. Long-term tea cultivation caused serious soil acidification. Seventy-seven percent of the 70 tea fields investigated had soil pH values below 4.0, and 9% below 3.0, with the lowest value of 2.7. Moreover, excess N application in tea fields put a threat to plant growth, induced serious nitrate contamination to local water, and caused high nitrous oxide loss. Compared with the conventional high N application treatment (1100 kg N ha−1) without lime N, the low N application (400 kg N ha−1) with calcium cyanamide effectively stopped soil acidification as well as achieved the same or slightly higher levels in tea yield and in total N and amino acid contents of tea shoots. The application of calcium cyanamide could be a suitable fertilization for the prevention of environmental problems in tea cultivation.

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    1

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40471066) and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX3-SW-417).

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