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Background The tea aphid,  Toxoptera aurantii  (Boyer de Fonscolombe) is a polyphagous pest predominant in tea orchards and has become the most pernicious pest deteriorating tea quality. Nitrogen (N) is essential to plant growth improvement, and it can significantly impact plant defensive ability against aphid infestation. This study was designed to quantify the influence of reduced N-fertilizer application on foliar chemicals and functional quality parameters of tea plants against the infestation of  T. aurantii . In this study, the tea seedlings (cv. Longjing43) were applied with normal level (NL) of N-fertilizer (240 kg N ha −1 ) along with reduced N-fertilizer levels (70%NL and 50%NL), and with and without  T. aurantii  infestation. Results The results showed that N-fertilizer application significantly affected plant biomass and photosynthetic indexes, foliar soluble nutrients and polyphenols, tea catechins, caffeine, essential amino acids, volatile organic compounds of tea seedlings, and the population dynamics of  T. aurantii . Compared with the normal N-fertilizer level, the reduced N-fertilizer application (70%NL and 50%NL) significantly decreased all the foliar functional quality components of tea seedlings without aphid infestation, while these components were increased in tea seedlings with aphid infestation. Moreover, the transcript expression levels of foliar functional genes (including  CsTCS, CsTs1,  and  CsGT1 ) were significantly higher in the NL, and significantly lower in the 50%NL for tea seedlings without aphid infestation, while the transcript expression levels were significantly higher in 50%NL in aphid inoculated tea seedlings. Conclusion The results demonstrated that the reduced N-fertilizer application could enhance foliar chemicals and functional quality parameters of tea plants especially with  T. aurantii  infestation, which can relieve soil nitrogen pressure and reduce pesticide use for control of tea aphid infestation in tea plantations.

Influence of reduced N-fertilizer application on foliar chemicals and functional qualities of tea plants under Toxoptera aurantii infestation