Abstract: The S contents in tea soils sampled from Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, its influencing factors and adsorbing characteristics were investigated. The results showed that the available S content in tea soils ranged from 5.4 to 250.7βmg/kg with the average of 54.1βmg/kg. Among the three provinces studied, Zhejiang was the highest and Anhui the lowest. The whole S content was 24-453βmg/kg with 190.5βmg/kg on average. The ratio of available S to whole S was between 1.38% and 69.1% with average of 17.2%. The available S content was of significantly positive correlation to the whole S content, and also closely related with organic matter, pH, parental material and tea productivity, etc. The content of available S decreased by 32.8% in the last decade, resulting in the number of soil with available S content less than 40βmg/kg increased from 31.2% to 46.1%. The capacity of soil adsorption to SO₄^2- varied with the quantities of S applied and its parental materials. The more the S fertilizer added to soils, the less proportion of added S adsorbed. The quaternary red clay showed the highest capacity to adsorb SO₄^2-, about 53.8% of S added was adsorbed, followed by soils derived from slate and rivulet sediment, almost no adsorption to SO₄^2- was observed in red sand soil derived from tertiary red sandstone.

Key words: Tea, Soil, Sulphur, Influencing factors, Adsorbing characteristic