Table 2.

Soil fertility properties of tea plantations in representative sites.

	Soil properties
Type of tea	plantations	pH	OM (g·kg-1)	AN (mg·kg-1)	AP (mg·kg-1)	AK (mg·kg-1)	E-Ca (mg·kg-1)	E-Mg (mg·kg-1)
	unpruned	4.53+0.04	23.12+1.42	94.91+4.86	219.67+71.84	107.4+8.23	322.52+25.85	60.4+4.69
Sitel	pruned	4.76:0.16	23.4+3.08	80.27+6	171.28+28.85	106.51+5.06	438.27+53.54	91.43+13.44
	P value	0.192 ns	0.937 ns	0.087 ns	0.546 ns	0.928 ns	0.080 ns	0.054 ns
	unpruned	4.95+0.34	25.39+1.76	97.07+7.59	116.44+29.59	239.28+14.97	925.67+328.21	136.65+24.75
Site2	pruned	4.69+0.1	20.95+1.28	80.73±7.61	253.7+62.03	199.67+10.66	466.86+75.52	86.28+17.41
	P value	0.439 ns	0.068 n	0.160 ns	0.063: ns	0.062 ns	0.203 ns	0.127 ns
	unpruned	4.7+0.21	22.77+4.16	75.02+12.12	74.34+5.06	130.05+11.96	420.4+91.37	45.64+5.33
Site3	pruned	4.69+0.07	25.94+1.14	69.07=2.95	91.03:27.44	111.5+10.85	457.58+55.41	44+5.91
	P value	0.976 ns	0.480 ns	0.644 ns	0.563 ns	0.278 n	0.735 ns	0.841 ns
	unpruned	4.44+0.04	22.69+1.99	76.42=7.8	173.65+59.95	146.09+12.19	128.08=20.31	37.63+7.25
Site4	pruned	4.31+0.05	29.27+2.94	84.93+3.85	312.71+78.75	128.6+7.25	182.14+22.35	33.84+2.85
	P value	0.075 ns	0.093 ns	0.350 ns	0.190 ns	0.246 ns	0.104 ns	0.637 n
	unpruned	4.61+0.09	38.13+1.54	142.22+12.43	6.41+1.05	77.96+16.3	174.66+43.25	27.37+4.29
Site5	pruned	4.55+0.07	39.1+7.39	118.42+18.32	17.99+5.45	81.63+19.89	111.92+14.75	33.66:8.04
	P value	0.633 ns	0.900 ns	0.308 ns	0.051 n	0.890 ns	0.200 ns	0.506 ns
	unpruned	5.13+0.04	17.88+2.97	89.37+7.04	7.57=2.24	148.38=29.75	261.07+30.54	53.05+4.47
Site6	pruned	5.12+0.04	21.25+2.65	80.62+10.66	10.15+1.64	108.76+26.84	318.17+86.62	54.66+12.87
	P value	0.890 ns	0.416 ns	0.509 ns	0.375 ns	0.346 ns	0.548 ns	0.908 ns

Values are shown as means ± standard errors. Testing for statistically significant differences between groups were conducted using the Student’s t test. ns, no significant difference.