Comparative response of catechin levels in drought tolerant and drought susceptible tea clones (Camellia sinensis) (L) O. Kuntze under different moisture regimes
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Date
2015
Authors
Langat, Charles
Gathaara, Moses Hungu
Cheruiyot, Richard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academic Journals
Abstract
In tea (Camellia sinensis) water stress generally affects the content of various plant secondary
metabolites including catechins. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of different soil
moisture content on the catechin levels of various tea clones. We found out that variation of soil water
content and accumulation of catechins were strongly correlated. The experiment was conducted in an
open field with the drought tolerant clones namely; SFS150, TRFK 303/577, and drought susceptible
clones; TRFK 6/8, TRFK 12/9, TRFK 301/4, TRFK 31/11, S15/10, TRFK 7/9, TRFK 31/8, and BBK 35. During
the cold and wet periods, the effect of plant water content on catechin level was not clearly expressed.
However, significant clone × soil water content interactions (p≤ 0.05) were observed for all clones during
the dry and hot periods. This observation indicated that declining plant water content (PWC) due to soil
moisture stress reduced catechin levels. It was concluded that variation of catechin in various tea
clones over different soil water content could be of great significance in evaluating water stress
tolerance ability of tea clones
Description
Crop Environment of Tea Research Foundation of Kenya
Keywords
Catechins, clones, water content, dry and hot periods