Data for: Long-term, high-intensity shading enhances triterpene production of loquat leaf through increasing foliar mineral nutrients

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) leaves are often used as herbal or folk medicines and applied into modern pharmacology. In this study, the effect of three shading levels (control/non-shading, monolayer netting, bilayer netting) and the duration (0-88 days) on leaf gas exchange, leaf mineral nutrients, ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) accumulation of loquat trees, Xinbai1, were assessed. The results indicated that UA and OA production improvement can be up to 17.20% and 9.35% respectively during bilayer netting treatments compared with control trees. Besides, a series of mixed-effect linear models with treatments and its duration as random effects revealed that leaf transpiration within crown, Ca, P and K concentrations represented the most parsimonious combination for both UA and OA, consistent with the patterns in random forest regressions. Therefore, it emphasized that shading would be the potential cultural practices for high production of UA and OA through increasing foliar mineral nutrients.