Introduction Ancient tea plants from small tea-producing areas in Yunnan possess irreplicable flavor characteristics, yet the mechanisms underlying flavor formation remain unclear. Methods This study focused on the core production region of ancient tea plants in the Laowu Mountain Region, including Shahe Village, Hetou Village, and Luojia Village. Differences in tea quality among production regions were analyzed, together with soil physicochemical properties and soil microbial communities, using correlation analysis and amplicon sequencing. Results Significant differences in tea quality were observed among different production regions, with catechins, amino acids, and caffeine collectively contributing to these variations. Soil organic carbon, organic matter, and nitrate nitrogen showed significant differences between production regions. Correlation analysis revealed that soil organic carbon was significantly positively correlated with epigallocatechin (EGC) (r 0.8, P 0.05), while soil nitrate nitrogen and organic matter were significantly negatively correlated with epicatechin (r -0.8, P 0.05). Amplicon sequencing indicated that the dominant bacterial phyla in the soil included Chloroflexi , Acidobacteriota , Proteobacteria , and Actinobacteriota , while the dominant fungal phyla were Ascomycota , Basidiomycota , and Mortierellomycota . Spearman correlation analysis showed that g:Streptomyces was negatively correlated with amino acid metabolites but positively correlated with total amino acids (AA) in tea, whereas amino acid metabolites were negatively correlated with AA. Meanwhile, g:Bacillus was negatively correlated with gibberellin A7 and GA, but positively correlated with EGC, while gibberellin A7 was positively correlated with GA and negatively correlated with EGC. Discussion These results shed new light on the mechanisms by which soil microorganisms and metabolites collaboratively shape the flavor compounds of ancient tea plants, while also providing a basis for the soil ecological management of Yunnan ancient tea plants.
Sha et al. (Thu,) studied this question.