Changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in organic farming practice and abandoned tea plantation

BACKGROUND: The restoration of conventional tea plantations and the adoption of organic farming practices could impact soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) stocks. This study investigated the soil properties, SOC and N contents and stocks, and their vertical distributions of a secondary forest restored from an abandoned conventional tea plantation and a converted organic tea plantation. An adjacent conventional tea plantation employing similar intermediate farming served as a comparison. RESULTS: Within a 50-cm depth, the secondary forest exhibited a higher SOC stock of 115.53 ± 7.23 Mg C ha(− 1) compared to 92.1 ± 8.54 Mg C ha(− 1) for the conventional tea plantation. No significant differences in N stocks were seen between the two land uses. Significantly high SOC and N contents and stocks were found in the 0–10 cm layer of the secondary forest compared to the conventional tea plantation. No significant disparities in SOC and N stocks were found between the conventional and organic tea plantations within the 50 cm depth (92.1 ± 8.54 Mg C ha(− 1) and 10.06 ± 1.01 Mg N ha(− 1) vs. 97.47 ± 1.53 Mg C ha(− 1) and 9.70 ± 0.10 Mg N ha(− 1)). However, higher levels of SOC and N contents and stocks were observed at a depth of 10 cm in the conventional tea plantation and below 10 cm in the organic tea plantation. CONCLUSIONS: The C and N inputs derived from high litter production at the top soil strongly contributed to higher SOC and N contents and stocks in the secondary forest. The application of soybean amendments in the conventional tea plantation and the longer tea plantation age of the organic tea plantation influenced their distribution of SOC and N contents and stocks, respectively. Reverting a conventional tea plantation into a secondary forest contributed to C recovery and reaccumulation. The conventional tea plantation, employing similar intermediate farming practices, increased SOC and N contents and stocks in the surface soil compared to the organic tea plantation. However, adopting organic farming did not significantly increase SOC stocks compared to the conventional tea plantation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40529-023-00401-z.