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The Role of Soil Mineral Multi-elements in Improving the Geographical Origin Discrimination of Tea (Camellia sinensis)

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Abstract

The combination of mineral multi-elements with chemometrics can effectively trace the geographical origin of tea (Camellia sinensis). However, the role of soil mineral multi-elements in discriminating the origin of tea was unknown. This study aimed to further validate whether the geographical origin of tea can be authenticated based on mineral multi-elements, the concentrations of which in tea leaves were significantly correlated with those in soil. Eighty-seven tea leaves samples and paired soils from Meitan and Fenggang (MTFG), Anshun, and Leishan in China were sampled, and 24 mineral elements were measured. The data were processed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and stepwise linear discriminant analysis (SLDA). Results indicated that tea and soil samples from different origins differed significantly (p < 0.05) in terms of most mineral multi-elemental concentrations. Conversely, the intra-regional differences of different cultivars of the same origin were relatively minor. Seventeen mineral elements in tea leaves were significantly correlated with those in soils. The SLDA model, based on the 17 aforementioned elements, produced a 98.85% accurate classification rate. In addition, the origin was also identified satisfactorily with 94.25% accuracy when considering the cultivar effect. In conclusion, the tea plant cultivars unaffected the accuracy of the discrimination rate. The geographical origin of tea could be authenticated based on the mineral multi-elements with significant correlation between tea leaves and soils. Soil mineral multi-elements played an important role in identifying the geographical origin of tea.

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Credit Authorship Contribution Statement

Jian Zhang: Conceptualization, data analysis, writing—original draft, software, methodology. Ruidong Yang: Conceptualization, writing—reviewing and editing, formal analysis, validation. Yuncong C. Li: Writing—reviewing and editing. Xinran Ni: Investigation, software, and data analysis.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Construction Project of the First-Class Discipline (Ecology) in Guizhou Province, China (No. GNYL[2017]007), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41463009), and the Innovation Group Major Research Project of Guizhou Province Education Department (No.KY[2016]024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Jian Zhang, Ruidong Yang & Xinran Ni

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225127, China

    Jian Zhang

  3. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Tropical Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Homestead, FL, 33031, USA

    Yuncong C. Li

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  1. Jian Zhang
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Correspondence to Ruidong Yang.

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Zhang, J., Yang, R., Li, Y.C. et al. The Role of Soil Mineral Multi-elements in Improving the Geographical Origin Discrimination of Tea (Camellia sinensis). Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 4330–4341 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02527-8

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