· Scientific articles · 2 minutes
Magnesium and its influence on tea quality
When we talk about the use of fertilizers in agriculture, including tea production, nitrogen fertilizers most commonly come to mind, as they are indeed the most widely used group.
They allow for increased yields and more efficient land use. However, there is no shortage of negative effects either - the taste of products deteriorates, and overuse leads to the emission of nitrous oxide (N2O), which is a greenhouse gas.
An article on the importance of magnesium in tea cultivation was published in the journal Scientia Horticulturae. Magnesium participates in the synthesis of sugars and lipids, the regulation of plant hormones, and is an essential component of chlorophyll - an important plant pigment involved in photosynthesis. Additionally, it also affects the absorption of other elements, including nitrogen and potassium.
The authors conducted research on a tea field in Anxi (cultivar - Tieguanyin), applying different doses of magnesium. It turned out that the use of magnesium significantly increases nitrogen absorption. Greater nitrogen availability also raises the concentration of free amino acids in the tea (by an average of about 14%), while having almost no effect on polyphenol content, thus improving the taste of the tea. It is also interesting that such supplementation increases bud density on tea bushes by about 13% - the mechanism of this phenomenon is not entirely clear, but it is probably related to hormone regulation (the ratio of indole-3-acetic acid to abscisic acid).
This also has a positive impact on the environment - nitrogen is used more efficiently, reducing the emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) (here the authors use a mathematical model rather than practical data, though these models describe the processes quite well). Taking magnesium concentration into account in tea cultivation could therefore be one of the foundations of sustainable tea production.
