Tea, Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze (family Theaceae) known for high antioxidant value on account of polyphenolic compounds predominantly of catechins, have long history of cultivation and utilization. Tea plant rhizosphere harbors an array of microbial antagonists (MA) effective against many of the soil borne diseases. Green management of diseases using MA coupled with botanicals is relatively a new approach in tea plantation, considering chemical residue free tea as major trade requirement. A variety of MA have shown their worth in curbing soil borne as well as foliar/stem diseases, however very limited commercial bioformulations have found commercial field application, despite so much cutting edge research. On the contrary, botanicals are yet to carve a niche in suppressing pathogens, as evident from majority of in vitro studies, thereby, often questioning their utility under field condition. However, application of MA in consortium mode (using rhizosphere and endosphere microbial communities) is known to enhance intensity as well duration of defense signaling, thereby, elevating the transcriptional activation of several metabolic pathways and consequent suppression of pathogens associated with variety of tea diseases. Biochemical analysis of tea plants treated with either MA or botanical extracts under challenge inoculation of pathogens displayed an enhanced expression of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activities collectively contributing towards improved antioxidant profiling, a pre-requisite to disease resistance response. The proposed review envisages the growing possibilities on use of MA and botanicals as greener side of disease management in tea crop.

茶、山茶(L.) O. Kuntze（茶科植物）因其以儿茶素为主的多酚化合物而以高抗氧化价值而闻名，有着悠久的栽培和利用历史。茶树根际含有一系列微生物拮抗剂 (MA)，可有效对抗许多土传疾病。使用 MA 与植物药相结合的绿色病害管理是茶园中相对较新的方法，将无化学残留茶视为主要贸易要求。多种 MA 已显示出其在抑制土壤传播和叶/茎病害方面的价值，但是，尽管进行了如此多的前沿研究，但商业领域应用非常有限。相反，植物药尚未在抑制病原体方面占据一席之地，这从大多数体外试验中可以明显看出因此，研究经常质疑它们在现场条件下的效用。然而，已知以联合模式（使用根际和内圈微生物群落）应用 MA 可以增强防御信号的强度和持续时间，从而提高几种代谢途径的转录激活，并因此抑制与各种茶病相关的病原体。对用 MA 或植物提取物处理的茶树进行的生化分析表明，过氧化物酶、多酚氧化酶和苯丙氨酸解氨酶活性的表达增强，共同有助于改善抗氧化谱，这是抗病反应的先决条件。