Formation, growth and productivity of the tea bush

Keywords:
Camellia sinensis, pruning, tipping, green leaf, yield, rainfall and PLS-DA plot.
ABSTRACT:
Camellia sinensis is the economically most important Camellia species. The
genus Camellia belongs to the family Theaceae. This genus accommodates as many
82 species (Sealy, 1958) and over 200 species (Zhijian et al., 1988). The tea plant was
originally included in the genus Thea by Linnaeus (1752) hence, Thea sinensis L., the
original name of the tea plant has now become camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze. As the age
of tea bushes from pruning advances, size and weight of harvestable shoots decline due to
the reduction in the vascular supply to growing buds. An extreme case of growth
retardation is evident in the higher proportion of banji shoots at the plucking table. Also,
the upper and knots where many new stems have originated, despite the maintenance of
foliage and losses efficiency, lower leaves drop off, leading to uneconomic harvesting
(Wilson, 1999). Under continued plucking without pruning or skiffing, the plucking table
becomes inconveniently high and growing apices gradually lose vigour. Pruning at this
stage becomes necessary by which these irregularities could be remedied. It is an
important practice in tea cultivation which involves removal of certain amount of growth
of the bush.
From the view of the observed interaction between clones, seedling cultivars
pruning height and tipping measures, it is evident that a required specific pruning height
and tipping measure is necessary for maximum crop production. However, in South India
below 30cm, 45cm, 55cm, 60cm, 65cm and above 65cm pruning heights can be
advantageously adopted for the sinensis and assamica cultivars, respectively under four to
five years pruning cycles. Analysing the yield at different heights of pruning, suggests that
at 55cm it is hard pruning, at 60cm it is medium pruning and at 65cm it is light pruning.
Integrated harvesting methods were followed by the trails. Light pruning trail yield is low
and banji percentage is high, hard pruning trail yield as well as banji percentage is low, in
medium pruning trail banji percentage is low and yield is high.
116-123 | JRPS | 2012 | Vol 1 | No 2
This article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/2.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution and
reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
www.plantsciences.info
Journal of Research in
Plant Sciences
An International Scientific
Research Journal
Authors:
Balamurugan T and
Nandagopalan V.




Institution:
PG and Research
Department of Botany
(Autonomous),
National College,
Tiruchirappalli - 620 001
Tamil Nadu, India.



Corresponding author:
Nandagopalan V.



Phone No:
+91 9443531377.




Email:
tbalan2002@yahoo.co.in





Web Address:
http://plantsciences.info/
documents/PS0034.pdf.


Dates:
Received: 14 Aug 2012 Accepted: 05 Sep 2012 Published: 13 Oct 2012
Article Citation:
Balamurugan T and Nandagopalan V.
Formation, growth and productivity of the tea bush.
Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123
Original Research
Journal of Research in Plant Sciences
J
o
u
r
n
a
l

o
f

R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h

i
n

P
l
a
n
t

S
c
i
e
n
c
e
s

An International Scientific Research Journal
Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
117 Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123
INTRODUCTION
Productivity of the tea bush depends on the
pruning height, structure of the supporting organs
composed of the bush frame and the top hamper. The
regeneration of the auxiliary buds on the plucked
primaries and laterals in the top hamper ultimately
determine the productivity and quality of the crop. Thus,
cultural and environmental factors which promote the
number and growth of the active auxiliary buds as well
as the volume of the supporting organs are desirable for
maximizing productivity of the tea bush. Selection of
varieties which posses highly efficient supporting organs
and growth parameters would further raise the yield per
unit area. For achieving these objectives, it is essential to
understand the basic structures and developmental
processes of the cultivated tea bush in relation to its
productivity. However, an investigation on the
developmental morphology of the tea bush has been
scant in the past. Their study on the effect of pruning
height measures on yield was limited to the pruned year
only as the annual prune system. Yield in tea is
influenced by severity of plucking and the type of shoots
harvested. The introduction of clones as popular
planning materials, and pruning cycles of four to five
years duration is prevalent the majority of the tea estates
in South India. Starch reserve in the plant is a major
determinant for pruning because the new growth relies
on the starch reserves. Pruning in any form without an
adequate reserve of carbohydrates could be disastrous
(Banerjee, 1993). The suitability of their recommended
tipping measures at 15 cm or 20 cm for different types of
pruning heights. In this investigation, the clonal and
seedlings difference in bush structures and
developmental processes involved in shoot production,
optimization of tipping measures for different pruning
heights and clones were studied. Various aspects of bush
morphology in relation to clonal and seedlings
differences in growth and productivity under different
pruning heights and tipping measures have been
discussed in the light of the data obtained in the present
investigation. In South India pruning has been
recommended during pre monsoon April-May and post
monsoon August-September.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area
Tea is basically a rain-fed crop. Temperature and
rainfall strongly influences the plant growth,
development and productivity of tea plants. The
investigation was conducted under the agro climatic
conditions of Sussex Estate, Wood briar Group, Gudalur,
Nilgiri District. This represents the different types of jats
under cultivation in this estate and in this region where
temperature is between 8
o
C to 33
o
C and annual rainfall is
between 1750 mm to 2250 mm. Relative humidity is the
moisture content of a volume of air expressed as
percentage of the maximum quantity that the air can hold
at the prevailing temperature. RH of 80% to 90% is
favorable during the growth period of tea plants. It
influences the determination of the loss of moisture by
evapotranspiration. Physio-chemical properties of the
soil are gravel and stone, coarse sand, fine sand, and clay
article. Mid elevation of this region 500-1500 m MSL
and soils pH is 4.8 to 5.00.
Materials
The experimental tea area was adopted by usual
cultivation policy. With the objective of studying the
bush- frame structures and development of a new
crop- producing top hammer over it, the bushes of all the
clones and seedlings were ground measured and cleaned
out with pruning machine in April 2006 to March 2010.
At the time of commencement of the experiment the
selected clones were twenty five years old and selected
seedlings were sixty years old which had been planted
out in plots with rectangular double hedge
1.35 x 0.75 x 0.75 m designs at spacing for clonal and up
and down 1.2 x 1.2 m spacing at seedlings. Twenty five
bushes in each row and fifteen bushes per plot were
selected randomly as sample for observing the different
bush structures, growth and productivity. The bush
height of pruned area at the ground level is 55cm, 60cm
and 65cm were carried out by the studies. The pruning
cycle experiment was incorporated into the experiment
on tipping measures. Description of the cultivars is given
in (Table 1). This identification is based on growth habit,
leaf shape, tip and base under description on UPASI
Scientific Department (Venkataramani and Sharma 1976;
Mohanan and Sharma 1981). Based on PLS-DA loading
plot for groups and Microsoft Excel for table were
employed. Green leaf, yield, rainfall, measuring scale,
kaaz java tea cutter, petrol, 2T oil and manpower were
used for this experiment.


METHODS
Tipping is an essential operation aimed at
forming a level plucking surface and to induce branching
at a high level which will produce more plucking points
in the bushes recovering from pruning. In this
experiment bud break and tipping interval has monitored
the different heights of pruning level. After pruning, the
tipping height is 15 cm above the pruning cut and
sequence of three tippings gives bush under the regular
plucking. The ideal tipping height should ensure
retention of adequate number of foliage for maximum
photosynthesis, apart from inducing a fast growth of
mature buds. In cropping period shear harvesting was
followed and lean period hand plucking method was
adopted. Plucking interval was followed as per the
Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123 118
Graph 1, PLS-DA loading plot
Table 1: Description of cultivars used for the experiment.
Cultivars Plant type Growth habit Leaf shape Tip Base
UPASI- 3 Assam Tree Oblong elliptic Acuminate Obtuse
UPASI- 9 China Shrub Obovate Acute Obtuse
UPASI- 17 China Shrub Obovate Acute Obtuse
ASSAM Assam Tree Oblong elliptic Acuminate Obtuse
CHINA China Shrub Obovate Acute Obtuse
standard recommendation of UPASI Scientific
Department (Satyanarayana et al., 1990). The green leaf
harvesting and yield data were observed with regular
plucking. Mother leaf addition was followed from
January to March to maintain the bush health.

Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
119 Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123
A. Pruned bush Surface area (Sq.dm); B. Pruning stick/bush (No.); C. Stubs per pruning stick (No.); D.
Girth of pruning stick (mm); E. Girth of collar (cm); F. Bud content per pruning stick (No.); G. Primaries
Tipped/ Pruning Stick (No); H. Tippable prys (%); I. Maintenance leaf/ Primary (No); J. Initial leaf area/
Primary (Sq/cm); K. Primaries Tipped/ Pruning Stick (No); L. Maintenance leaf/ Primary (No); M. Initial
leaf area/Primary (Sq/cm); N. Pluckable shoots (No); O. Leaf period (No); P. Rate of generation (days); Q.
Leaf growth rate (g); R. Genern, laterals pry (No); S. Pluckable laterals/pry.
Graph 2, PLS-DA Score for jats.
S.No Parameter analysed Cultivars
UPASI-3 UPASI-9 UPASI- 17 ASSAM CHINA
Table: 2 Development of primary shoots on hard pruned bush frame.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Data presented (Table, 2) is that medium pruning
determines the more number of leaf bearing branches.
Their number is greater on longer stems while the rate of
recovery is slower on bushes (Kulasegaram and
Kathiravetpillai, 1981). The plucking table on the slopes
of the hills is normally lower than that of the plains and
the height of the bush has to be adjusted to the slopes of
the terrain (Barua, 1989). Medium pruning helps removal
of congested top hammer of weak and twiggy branches
arising from continuous picking of shoots on the top of
the bush. Apart from this, hard pruning (Table, 3) is done
to remove knots, diseased wood and to reduce the
proportion of unproductive wood. When the primary and
secondary branches are healthy, lighter forms of pruning
is suggested (Table, 4). Lighter form of pruning gives
higher crop right from the pruned year. Tipping at
different measures significantly altered the volume of the
top hammer, although there was no significant difference
at 15cm and 20cm tipping measures. The higher yield
obtained in lighter styles of pruning due to production of
greater amount of phytomass is favourable distribution
towards crop. Stimulation of greater number of buds is
seen particularly in the first 5cm profile below the
pruning cut. Plants must be rested for six to eight weeks
before carrying out all types of pruning.
Clones with thicker pruning sticks possessed
more number of stubs and buds, thinner pruning sticks
were more numerous in the bush-frame. The typical
assamica clone and seedlings, possessed thicker collar
but more pruning sticks compared to the assamica
hybrids and sinensis types. The yield quantity increased,
or as per the pruning height, was marginally up to the
fourth year. Pruning at different height measures
significantly altered the volume of the top hamper and
productivity. Medium pruning drastically increased the
productivity (Table, 5). The fourth year banjification
percentage is low. Hard pruning drastically increased the
Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123 120
S.No Parameter analysed Cultivars
UPASI-3 UPASI-9 UPASI- 17 ASSAM CHINA
Table: 3 Development of primary shoots on Medium pruned bush frame.
productivity and the fourth year marginally reduced the
yield. The fourth year banjification percentage is
medium level. Light pruning significantly increased the
productivity in the first and second year and marginally
reduced in third and fourth year. The fourth year
banjification percentage is at a high level because of
plants affected by stress. Yield trends in conjunction with
the decline in the flush size, profusion of banji and
plucking averages given a better guidance in determining
the length of pruning cycle. Yields decline earlier in the
cycle in chinary and china hybrid than in assam hybrid
indicating a need for shorter cycles in that Jat (Sharma,
1984).
CONCLUSION
Clones differed significantly in yield per
primary, yield per unit area of pruned bush surface, and
dry matter content and fresh weight of standard shoots
area to area of pruned bush-surface, UPASI-9 produced
significantly higher yield than UPASI-3 and
UPASI-17. The hybrids and seedlings yields is low
(Graph, 1). Based on the PLS-DA score plot analysis,
five distinct clusters were obtained. Each tea accession
was segregated in to individual group. UPASI-3,
UPASI-9 and UPASI-17 show close resemblances,
where as assam and chinary seedlings showed distinct
variation from all the tea accessions used. The
Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
121 Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123
Table: 4 Development of primary shoots on Light pruned bush frame.
S.No Parameters analysed Cultivars
UPASI-3 UPASI-9 UPASI- 17 ASSAM CHINA
Pruning ht, UPASI-3 UPASI- 9 UPASI-17 ASSAM CHINA
55cm 25.31 25.45 24.12 23.31 22.29
60cm 27.05 27.45 26.41 25.15 24.47
65cm 26.47 26.73 25.45 24.16 23.16
Table: 5 Comparative yield of green leaf at different heights of pruning (mean of 4 years).
importance of pruning cycles for increasing the tea crop
was done particularly in the more valuable early season
crop. (Awasthi et al., 1976; Chakravartee, 1971; Hudson
and Durairaj, 1998). Studies on clonal variation in
response to the various pruning cycles under tipping
measures showed that the yielding potential of clones
change drastically during the period of pruning cycle
compared to that in the first pruned year of the cycle.
The optimum tipping height is 15cm measure of pruned
year as (Graph, 2). Group I and Group II are the major
parameters which influence the differences between the
tea accessions. It indicates that the yield of the tea clones
are mainly influenced by these identified tea parameters.
Three types of pruning height measures were
studied at which positive yield response has been
achieved in this study. It is surmised that better result
could be obtained at a slightly higher measures, too. The
ability to efficiently harvest the entire crop produced on
the bushes is also to be considered. Inconveniently high
plucking table due to very high tipping measures and
pruning height, reduced shoot size, and higher proportion
of dormant shoots caused by leaving unpruned for
unnecessarily long period results in reduction of plucking
efficiency, considerable increase in the cost of plucking
and loss of quality of made tea. The maximum
contribution to the yield by third and fourth year orders
of lateral in the pruned year. From this study, at the
height of 60cm of pruning level gives the best
productivity and less banji percentage when compared
with at 55cm and at 65 cm of heights in pruning level.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Mr. Balachandar,
Vice President. (Plantations), Woodbriar Group, for his
encouragement and necessary facilities for this
investigation. Our sincere thanks are due to Dr. R. Victor
J. Ilango, Sr. Botanist, UPASI TRF and Dr. K.M. Maria
John, Post, Doc, Lab. of Functional Metabolomics,
Seoul, for his constant encouragement.
REFERENCES
Awasthi RC, Ghosh, TK and venkatakrishnan NS.
1976. Benefit evaluation of Tocklai Recommendations:
2. longer pruning cycle. Two and A Bud., 23:7.

Banerjee B. 1993. Tea production and processing.
Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi,
India, 336.

Barua DN. 1989. Science and practice in tea culture.
Tea Research Association. Calcutta- Jorhat, 493.

Chakravartee J. 1971. Yield and crop distribution as
affected by pruning, skiffing and plucking. Proceedings
of Twentyforth Conference, Tea Research Association,
Jorhat - 8, Assam, India.

Hudson JB and Durairaj J. 1998. Role of rejuvenation
pruning in augmenting tea production in South India.
UPASI-KVK Publication, 30:212.

Kulasegaram and Kathiravetpillai, A. 1981. The
Effect of severity of pruning on growth and yield of high
country seed tea (Camellia sinensis). Tea Quarterly.
50(1):16-25.

Linnaeus C. 1752. Species Plantarum Ed I.

Mohanan M and Sharma VS. 1981. Morphology and
systematic of some tea (Camellia spp) cultivars.
391-400. In : Proc. PLACROSYM IV.

Satyanarayana, N, Spurgeon Cox, Godindarajulu, V,
Surendra Mohan M, Hudson JB. and Sharma VS.
1990. Implications of mechanical harvesting in tea.
Planters Chronicle 85:59-72.

Sealy J. 1958. A revision of the genus Camellia. Royal
Horticulture Socisty, Lodon.

Sharma VS. 1984. Pruning of Tea - precepts and
practices. UPASI Tea Sci, Dept, Bull., 39:63-67


Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123 122


Venkataramani KS and Sharma VS. 1976. The tea
complex. 2. Nomenculture and description of some tea
clones. S Indian Hort., 24:155-163

Wilson KC. 1999. Coffee, Cocoa and Tea. CABI
Publishing, UK, 300.

Zhijian Gu, Lifang Xia and Lishan X. 1988. Report on
the chromosome numbers of some species of Camellia in
China. Acta Botanica Yunnanica, 10(3):291-296.

Balamurugan and Nandagopalan, 2012
123 Journal of Research in Plant Sciences (2012) 1(2): 116-123
Submit your articles online at www.plantsciences.info

Advantages
Easy online submission
Complete Peer review
Affordable Charges
Quick processing
Extensive indexing
You retain your copyright

submit@plantsciences.info

www.plantsciences.info/Submit.php.