Over-fertilization of N is evolving as a serious issue especially in tea cultivation. As a result, groundwater contamination and accumulation of NO3- in tea becomes a concern. So we designed a field experiment where we applied conventional fertilizer combined with 5kg

& 10kg Spent coffee ground (SCG) in four different treatments for the experimental tea cultivating area. After one year of management, we observed a significant amount of less Nitrogen load in the groundwater (water collected after passing the root zone of tea) in the treatment blocks where we applied 5kg SCG + conventional fertilization comparing to the conventional fertilization.

From the above observation is it possible to come to a conclusion that spent coffee grounds act as a nitrification inhibitor?