Effect of Intercropping and Selenium-Foliar Application on the Growth of Potted Tea Seedlings，Tea Quality，and Rhizosphere Soil Enzyme Activities

doi:10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2024-0546

Acta Horticulturae Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (9): 2491-2506.doi: 10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2024-0546

• Cultivation·Physiology & Biochemistry • Previous Articles Next Articles

Effect of Intercropping and Selenium-Foliar Application on the Growth of Potted Tea Seedlings，Tea Quality，and Rhizosphere Soil Enzyme Activities

CHEN Dan, WEI Yi, ZHANG Lehui, GUO Fei, WANG Pu, WANG Mingle, WANG Yu, ZHAO Hua^**()

College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences， Huazhong Agricultural University，National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crops， Wuhan 430070， China

Received:2025-05-16 Revised:2025-06-23 Online:2025-09-25 Published:2025-09-24
Contact: ZHAO Hua

Abstract

Abstract:

The study aimed to investigate the effects of intercropping selenium（Se）-hyperaccumulated plant Cardamine hupingshanensis accompanied with Se spraying on tea plants’ growth，tea quality and rhizosphere enzymatic activities. The tea variety was‘ECha 10’. The Findings indicated that the combination of intercropping combined and Se treatment significantly stimulated the growth of tea plants，showing thicker main stems and a more vigorous root system. It also notably enhanced the content of free amino acid，decreased the content of caffeine，polyphenols of catechin and flavonoids in the young shoots. The primary selenium species in the tea leaves was identified as selenomethionine，followed by selenocysteine. Furthermore，this cultivation practices，intercropping combined with selenium spraying，substantially elevated the activities of β-glucosidase，leucine aminopeptidase，and N-acetyl-β- glucosaminidase in the rhizosphere soil. Conversely，it significantly suppressed the activity sulfatase. Meanwhile，intercropping suppressed the activity of acid phosphatase. In summary，The results highlight that the integration of C. hupingshanensis intercropping combined with selenium foliar spray treatment can synergistically improve tea plants’ growth，enhance the quality of fresh tea leaves，and promote the production of Se-enriched tea. This cultivation practice significantly enhances the enzyme activities of the rhizosphere soil of tea plants.

Key words: tea plants, Cardamine hupingshanensis, intercropping, tea quality, organic selenium, rhizosphere enzymatic activity

CHEN Dan, WEI Yi, ZHANG Lehui, GUO Fei, WANG Pu, WANG Mingle, WANG Yu, ZHAO Hua. Effect of Intercropping and Selenium-Foliar Application on the Growth of Potted Tea Seedlings，Tea Quality，and Rhizosphere Soil Enzyme Activities[J]. Acta Horticulturae Sinica, 2025, 52(9): 2491-2506.

Figures/Tables 12

Fig. 1 Tea plants in monoculture（A）and tea plants-Cardamine hupingshanensis intercropping（B）

Fig. 2 The effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis（CHP）and Se treatment on the number of leaves（A）and height（B）of tea plants Control：Monoculture；CHP：Tea plants-Cardamine hupingshanensis intercropping；Control + Se：Monoculture and spray Se（10 mg · L-1 Na2SeO4）；CHP + Se：Tea plants-Cardamine hupingshanensis intercropping and spray Se（10 mg · L-1 Na2SeO4）. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments（P < 0.05）. The same below

Fig. 3 The effect of Cardamine hupingshanensis-intercropping and Se treatment on the root dry weight（A）and main stem diameter（B）of tea trees

Fig. 4 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on chlorophyll content of tea tree leaves

Fig. 5 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on nitrogen，phosphorus and potassium content in the tea leaves of gradient maturity

Fig. 6 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on the content of free amino acids in tea fresh leaves

Fig. 7 Effect of the intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on the content of main amino acid components in tea fresh leaves

Fig. 8 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on the content of caffeine in tea fresh leaves

Fig. 9 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on the content of flavonoid content in tea fresh leaves

Table 1 The content of Se species in the leaves of Cardamine hupingshanensis and one bud with two leaves of tea plants intercropped with CHP-tea plants treated with Se（mg · kg-1 DW）

材料 Material	处理 Treatment	SeMet	MeSeCys	SeCys₂	SeCys	SeO₄^2-	SeO₃^2-
壶瓶碎米荠 Cardamine hupingshanensis	硒 + Se	46.6 ± 0.99	4.74 ± 0.18	2.64 ± 0.06	nd	nd	nd
茶树 Tea plant	单作 + 硒对照 + Se	3.27 ± 0.11 a	nd	nd	0.65 ± 0.04 a	nd	0.05 ± 0.01 a
茶树 Tea plant	间作 + 硒 CHP + Se	1.38 ± 0.08 b	nd	nd	0.21 ± 0.01 b	nd	0.03 ± 0.01 a

Fig. 10 Effect of intercropping with Cardamine hupingshanensis and Se treatment on the enzyme activity of in the rhizosphere soil of tea trees

Fig. 11 PCA analysis of tea tree growth，tea quality and nutrient concentration in different leaves and enzymatic activity of rhizosphere soil The details of each indicator are shown in Figures 2-10. YL：Young leaf；ML：Mature leaf；SL：Senescent leaf. When the angle between an indicator and a treatment is < 90°，it indicates a positive correlation，and the smaller the angle，the stronger the positive correlation. When the angle is > 90°，it indicates a negative correlation，and the larger the angle，the stronger the negative correlation

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Effect of Intercropping and Selenium-Foliar Application on the Growth of Potted Tea Seedlings，Tea Quality，and Rhizosphere Soil Enzyme Activities

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