Comparison of Microbial Communities in the Rhizosphere Soils from Two Varieties of Camellia sinensis in Yunnan Province, China

Pu-erh tea is one of the most popular teas in China due to its health benefits. However, there is little research into the microbial community among the rhizosphere soils from medium-small-leaf variety and small-leaf variety (an ancient tea tree “Mansong tea”) of Camellia sinensis used to produce Pu-erh tea. This is the first report on characterization of the microbial communities in the rhizosphere soils from both tea varieties by means of high-throughput sequencing. The results indicated that diverse bacteria and fungi were present in the tea tree rhizosphere soils, and Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota were the dominant phyla. The composition of bacterial and fungal communities composition in the rhizosphere soils of two tea varieties was markedly different. This study may result in improving our understanding of differentiating tea varieties and development of specific microbial communities in the tea orchards.