Sustainability of agroecological tea management and land conversion practices for restoring soil health: A case study of Thai Nguyen province in Northern Vietnam

Le Viet San, Herrmann Laetitia, Hudek Lee, Bräu Lambert, Lesueur Didier. 2021. Sustainability of agroecological tea management and land conversion practices for restoring soil health: A case study of Thai Nguyen province in Northern Vietnam. In : 13th International Conference on Agrophysics: Agriculture in changing climate. Book of abstracts. Zdunek Artur (ed.), Pacek-Bieniek Agata (ed.). Lublin : Institut of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Science, Résumé, p. 36. International Conference on Agrophysics (ICA 2021). 13, Lublin, Pologne, 15 Novembre 2021/16 Novembre 2021.

Résumé : Tea is one of the most important cash crops in Vietnam. The continual use of conventional tea cultivation strategies in the country has led to numerous issues that are reducing tea yield and quality, and ultimately profitability for tea growers. Key issues affecting production include soil health degradation and environmental pollution with serious consequences on human health. In recent years, there has been a rapid conversion from conventional tea management practices and annual croplands to agroecological tea cultivation methods. This is driven by an increasing interest in high tea quality and awareness of the harmful effects of agrochemicals on human health and the environment. To date, the sustainability of this conversion regarding soil health properties has been poorly understood. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate impact of agroecological tea management and land conversion practices on soil health indicators in northern Vietnam. Our research results demonstrated that agroecological management practices significantly increased soil organic matter, soil pH and AMF colonization compared to conventional management. While with conventional management, soil total nitrogen was significantly higher compared to agroecological tea plantation soils, this could be explained by intensive applications of nitrogen-based fertilizers in conventionally managed tea plantations. Soil macro and microfauna diversity was significantly greater in agroecologically managed tea gardens than in conventional tea plantations. Interestingly, for both management practices, the highest AMF intensity (M%) was only 48.7%, suggesting that there is room for options to improve AMF root colonization of tea plants with a benefit on soil health and plant growth. As for AMF, our result highlights the possibilities for enhancing soil fauna diversity by management practices for improving soil conditions such as soil acidity. Effects of field lime applications on soil pH and soil health parameters are currently being investigated. Based on the outcomes of these trials, additional management practices such as biochar application will also be investigated. The overall objective is to sustain a high-quality tea production while improving soil diversity and soil health, with overall outcomes towards achieving long-term economically and environmentally sustainable tea production for Vietnam.

Mots-clés libres : Tea plantations, Soil health, Vietnam, Agroecological practices

Agences de financement hors UE : Ministry of Education and Science

Auteurs et affiliations

• Le Viet San, Deakin University (AUS)
• Herrmann Laetitia, Deakin University (AUS)
• Hudek Lee, Deakin University (AUS)
• Bräu Lambert, Deakin University (AUS)
• Lesueur Didier, CIRAD-PERSYST-UMR Eco&Sols (VNM) ORCID: 0000-0002-6694-0869

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/603804/)

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