Use of biochemical compounds in tea germplasm characterization and its implications in tea breeding in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Thirty five tea germplasm accessions selected to represent the germpalsm collection of Sri Lanka was used for biochemical characterization based on the biochemical compounds present in the fresh tea leaf. Rate of fermentation, crude fibre content, total polyphenols, total catechins, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b and total carotenoids were analysed. Principal component analysis (PCA) using 7 biochemical parameters and clustering on first three principal components accounted for 87 % of the total variation and delineated the 35 accessions into 4 clusters. Biochemical parameters such as fermentation rate, total polyphenols, total catechins and plant pigments in green leaf were important in explaining the biochemical variation. The selected 35 accessions could also be categorized into 4 groups based on the fermentation rate. Estate selections (PK2, N2, DUN7, S106, DT1, TC9, WT26 and NAY3) and some introductions (TRI777, INTRI6 and VHMOR) recorded the highest total polyphenols and catechin content. Besides, ASM4/10, TRI2016, TRI2025 and TRI2043 showed the highest content of chlorophylls and total carotenoids. The significant variation of the selected biochemical compounds detected in the present study indicated the high genetic diversity of tea germplasm in Sri Lanka. Results suggests that accessions PLLG2, VHMOR, DUN7 and WT26 possess unique characteristics such as rapid fermentation, high amount of polyphenols and catechins, and these could be used as potential parents for future tea breeding programmes after analyzing other complementary traits. The present study provides useful guidelines on the use of fresh leaf biochemical parameters such as the rate of fermentation, total polyphenols, total catechins, chlorophylls and carotenoid content in characterizing the Sri Lankan tea germplasm.

Genetic Variation of Flavonols Quercetin, Myricetin, and Kaempferol in the Sri Lankan Tea (Camellia sinensisL.) and Their Health-Promoting Aspects

“…Based on the records available, less than 6% of the total accessions preserved in Sri Lankan tea germplasm have been utilized in the tea breeding programmes till 1998, and utilization of tea accessions has increased up to 13.6% by the end of 2009 [ 50 ]. The lack of information regarding the genetic variation, mainly biochemical and molecular diversity of the existing population, could be one reason for underutilization of the germplasm [ 12 ].…”

Application of Electronic Nose to Predict the Optimum Fermentation Time for Low-Country Sri Lankan Tea

“…[25,27,45] Since the fermentation process is sensitive to weather, condition peaks appear at different times. In this study, peaks were detected in comparatively lower time in previous studies, which could be due to differences in tea clones used, climate factors, and processing methods [38,[46][47][48]. ree separate clusters can be identified based on the three peaks, and the classification rate was 83%.…”

The Diversity and Classification of Tea Germplasm Based on Morpho-Agronomic Characteristics

“…Tea is second only to water as one of the most popular healthy drinks in the world [1]. The tea plant (Camellia sinensis, 2n 2x 30) is one of the 82 species belonging to the camellia genus [2].…”