Journal of Tea Science

Research Progress of Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) Growth under Light Regulation

GAI Shujie, WANG Yixiong, LI Lan, LIU Shuoqian, LI Yinhua, CHENG Xiao, XIA Mao, LIU Zhonghua, ZHOU Zhi

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 753-767. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.005

Abstract ( 470 )

PDF (882KB) ( 464 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

The growth and development of tea plants are affected by external environmental factors, and light is one of the most important factors, which can affect the growth and secondary metabolites of tea plants alone or in coordination with other environmental factors such as temperature, etc. This paper introduced the research progress of light regulation of tea plant growth and metabolic at domestic and abroad in recent years. The main points of discussion were the effects of different spectral bands, photon flux and photoperiod on tea plant growth, types and contents of metabolites. It’s mainly for clarifying the light regulated metabolic process of tea plant growth, analyzing the light regulated mechanism, and providing theoretical support for the development of light regulated metabolic technology that can be used in production practice.

Preliminary Study on SNP Molecular Markers in Tea Chloroplast Genome

LUO Xiangzong, HU Yunfei, WU Linhui, ZHAO Yaqi, ZHENG Weiming, LI Xiangru, LI Li

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 768-778. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.012

Abstract ( 280 )

PDF (1518KB) ( 147 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

The application value of traditional chloroplast gene molecular markers in tea section classification is limited relatively. The aim of this study was to screen out SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) combinations that could be used for tea plant identification and maternal traceability. In this study, the chloroplast genome sequences of 18 reported tea plants were compared. By designing universal primers, the candidate molecular markers were amplified and analyzed by sanger sequencing in 169 tea cultivars/strains, and 16 pairs of primers containing 25 SNP loci were screened out. This set of SNP molecular markers can be used for maternal traceability and identification analysis of tea cultivars. In addition, the DNA fingerprints composed of SNP sites were digitally encoded in combination with the basic information of tea resources, and finally a 30-digit molecular ID card of tea resources was formed, and corresponding barcodes and two-dimensional codes were constructed for cultivar identification. The data from this study provided a new idea for maternal origin tracing and identification of tea cultivars.

The Ultrastructure and Molecular Mechanism of Albino Pericarp in Tea Plants

TANG Rongjin, LIU Haoran, LIU Dingding, ZHANG Chenyu, GONG Yang, YE Yuanyuan, CHEN Jiedan, CHEN Liang, MA Chunlei

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 779-790. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.009

Abstract ( 229 )

PDF (1891KB) ( 154 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

Albino pericarp is a rare mutation in tea plants, which has not been reported yet. Recently, among the albino tea mutants preserved in the China National Germplasm Tea Repository, a precious resource ‘Yunbai 1’ with albino pericarp were found. The ultrastructure of the albino pericarp of ‘Yunbai 1’ was compared with the control ‘Zhongcha 129’. The results indicate that compared with the green pericarp of ‘Zhongcha 129’, the plastid structure in albino pericarp cells of ‘Yunbai 1’ was seriously damaged and could not further develop into chloroplasts. Transcriptomic analysis shows that, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pericarps of two cultivars were enriched in the pathways of photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, indicating that the defective chloroplasts in albino pericarp disrupted photosynthetic carbon metabolism and nitrogen metabolism. In addition, numerous DEGs of seeds between two cultivars were enriched in the pathways of carbohydrate metabolism and fatty acid degradation, revealing that the carbon allocation strategy in the seeds of ‘Yunbai 1’ was different from ‘Zhongcha 129’, which might be helpful for maintaining the normal growth and development of seeds. The related results could provide important reference for further study on the albinism of tea fruits.

Research on Drag Reduction Performance of Tea Garden Bionic Shovel Based on Discrete Element Method

JIANG Jiayin, DONG Chunwang, NI Yihua, XU Jiajun, LI Yang, MA Rong

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 791-805. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.004

Abstract ( 231 )

PDF (1208KB) ( 160 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

Aiming at the problems of serious soil compaction, small row spacing, large tillage resistance and easy entanglement in tea gardens, a bionic shovel based on discrete element method was proposed, and its drag reduction performance was studied. The physical parameters of the compacted soil in tea garden were measured by discrete element simulation and experiment method. Taking the mole claw as the prototype, combined with its digging action, a tillage agency based on a four-bar mechanism was designed, and the drag reduction effects of the claw tip and claw profile of the mole claw were studied using the discrete element method. From the discrete element simulation results, it can be seen that under various tillage conditions, the average torque reduction ratio and power consumption reduction ratio of the claw-tip bionic feature were 1.72%-5.04% and 1.58%-4.84%, respectively. The average torque reduction ratio and power consumption reduction ratio of the claw profile bionic feature were 34.06%-39.29% and 29.02%-34.73%, respectively. The average torque reduction ratio and power consumption reduction ratio of the composite bionic feature were 36.61%-42.06% and 30.84%-38.15%, respectively. It can be seen that the drag reduction effects of the two bionic features could be superposed to a certain extent, and the combined bionic feature had a better drag reduction effect.

Comparative Study on the Physicochemical Characteristics and Antioxidant Activities of Polysaccharides in Different Tea Cultivars

CHEN Xue, ZUO Xinxin, XU An'an, XU Ping, WANG Yuefei

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 806-818. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.011

Abstract ( 321 )

PDF (1441KB) ( 175 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

In the present work, 10 representative tea cultivars (Huangjingui, Tieguanyin, Qimenzhong, Liubaocha, Dahongpao, Zhuyeqi, Longjing 43, Baiyeyihao, Zhonghuangyihao and Fudingdabai) in the same tea garden were selected and their fresh leaves were dried directly by microwave. Tea polysaccharides (TPS) from the 10 cultivars were prepared by water extraction. Their physical and chemical characteristics were compared and analyzed by chemical analysis, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), gel chromatography, scanning electron microscope (SEM), particle size measurement and Zeta potential analysis. And their antioxidant abilities including DPPH radical scavenging ability, ABTS radical scavenging ability and ferric ion reducing ability were determined as well. It was found that TPS was a kind of water-soluble acid glycoprotein, which mainly consisted of uronic acid, neutral sugar, protein and polyphenols. Meanwhile, the monosaccharide components of the 10 TPSs were mainly composed of galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose and arabinose. Principal component analysis (PCA) shows that the basic composition of TPS in Baiyeyihao and Longjing 43 were significantly different from other tea cultivars. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of TPS in Baiyeyihao was the strongest among the obtained TPS. Correlation analysis indicates that the antioxidant capacity of TPS might be related to the contents of polyphenols and proteins.

Root Growth and Organic Acid Secretion of Tea Plants Affected by Phosphorus and Aluminum Interaction

ZHOU Beini, MEI Huiling, LI Jianjie, CHEN Lingli, ZHONG Qing, LI Xiaoqian, CHEN Xuan, LI Xinghui

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 819-827. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.006

Abstract ( 305 )

PDF (1247KB) ( 166 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

To investigate the effects of phosphorus-aluminum interaction on the growth of tea plants, phosphorus and aluminum interaction treatments with three aluminum concentrations and five phosphorus concentrations were set to analyze the changes in root growth, secretion of organic acids and uptake of phosphorus and aluminum in tea plants. The results show that both low phosphorus (0.01 mmol∙L^-1) and high aluminum (1 mmol∙L^-1) significantly promoted the growth of new roots in tea plants, and the number of root tips, root length, average diameter and increase of dry matter in new roots reached the maximum under the combined treatment of low phosphorus and high aluminum. High aluminum was able to restore the growth of new roots impeded by high phosphorus (0.5 mmol∙L^-1) conditions. In addition to the high phosphorus treatment (0.5 mmol∙L^-1), increasing the concentration of phosphorus or aluminum in the environment could significantly promote their accumulation in the roots of tea plants. Within a certain range, phosphorus significantly promoted the accumulation of aluminum in shoots. However, aluminum inhibited the accumulation of phosphorus in shoots when phosphorus was sufficient (>0.05 mmol∙L^-1). When phosphorus was sufficient, high aluminum promoted the secretion of oxalic acid, malic acid and citric acid. Phosphorus application promoted the secretion of citric acid, while low phosphorus promoted the secretion of oxalic acid and malic acid. Low phosphorus and high aluminum synergistically promoted the secretion of malic acid. The results of two-way ANOVA show that phosphorus and aluminum concentrations and their interaction had highly significant effects on root length, root tip number, phosphorus and aluminum uptake and organic acid secretion in tea plants (p<0.01), which showed that phosphorus and aluminum interaction can affect root growth and organic acid secretion of tea plants significantly.

Development and Reproduction of Ectropis grisescens and Ectropis obliqua Based on the Two-Sex Life Table

GE Fanxing, SHI Fan, CHENG Chunxi, CHEN Lilin

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 828-838. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.008

Abstract ( 191 )

PDF (1012KB) ( 255 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

Ectropis grisescens Warren and Ectropis obliqua Prout are two serious defoliators in tea gardens, which affect both yield and quality of tea. In the study, using the age-stage two-sex life table, the growth and development indices, age-stage-specific survival rate, age-stage-specific fecundity, age-stage-specific life expectancy, age-stage-specific reproductive value, and population parameters of tea geometrid were measured and the differences of the parameters were analyzed. The results show that the developmental duration of the 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th instar larvae, the total duration of larvae, the pupal stage, and the adult longevity of E. grisescens (3.22, 2.55, 1.43, 4.56, 15.34, 7.98, and 7.59 d, respectively) were significantly lower than those of E. obliqua (4.07, 3.05, 2.16, 5.71, 18.83, 8.88, and 10.65 d, respectively). The survival rates of the 2^nd to 5^th instars larvae of E. grisescens were 100.00%, 95.00%, 62.00% and 96.00%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of E. obliqua (93.00%, 71.00%, 45.00% and 80.00%, respectively). The mean generation duration of E. grisescens was 32.412 d, which was significantly shorter than that of E. obliqua (36.016 d). The age-stage-specific survival rate and intrinsic rate of increase of E. grisescens were higher than those of E. obliqua, and the mean generation duration was shorter than that of E. obliqua. The population of E. grisescens could expand more rapidly. The results provided basic data for the lab population rearing of E. grisescens and E. obliqua, and provided theoretical basis for the competition mechanism and the selection of population control strategies of the two sibling species.

The Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Stephanitis chinensis

YANG Jinhong, XIE Manchao, WEN Xinru, CHEN Ruiru, KONG Weiqing

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 839-850. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.007

Abstract ( 226 )

PDF (2159KB) ( 319 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

In order to obtain the characteristics of the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) and explore phylogenetic relationship, the mitogenome sequence of Stephanitis chinensis collected from Ankang city, Shaanxi Province was determined by Illumina and Sanger sequencing methods. The result shows that the mitogenome of S. chinensis is 18 085 bp in length, including 37 coding genes [13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs], and one control region of 3 678 bp. The gene organization of S. chinensis is the same as the ancestral gene order of insect mitogenome. The AT content of whole mitogenome is 78.10%. Among the 13 PCGs, six start with the typical ATG, seven start with ATT or ATA, and ten end with the typical TAA or TAG. Only cox2, atp6 and cox3 terminate with T. The highly occurred codons in the PCGs are UUA, AUU, UUU and AUA, and the top 4 amino acids are Leu, Ile, Phe and Ser. There are 23 mismatches of GU, UU, GA and AA in 22 tRNAs. All the tRNAs could form the common clover-leaf secondary structures, except trnS1(GCU), which lacks the DHU arm. The control region contains 3 type of non-tandem repeats and 4 (TTAG)_n in the front-end region (FER) and one tandem repeat in the back-end region (BER), and several stem-loop structures. Phylogenetic analysis shows that Stephanitis mendica has the closest relationship with S. chinensis. All the insects from Tingidae were clustered together, and placed at the base part of the phylogenetic tree.

Effects of Eurotium cristatum LJSC.2005 on the Quality of Primary Dark Tea, A Major Part of Fu Tea

TANG Yiyu, YU Mengyao, YU Lijun, HUANG Jian'an, WANG Kunbo, LIU Zhonghua

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 851-862. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.002

Abstract ( 268 )

PDF (521KB) ( 168 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

In order to explore the effect of fermented loose tea technology with Eurotium cristatum LJSC.2005 on the quality of primary dark tea, the major part of Hunan Fu tea, the sensory evaluation, biochemical composition analysis and head-space solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technologies were used to analyze its effect on the primary dark teas made from six main tea cultivars in Hunan Province. The sensory evaluation results show that, compared with the primary dark tea, the loose tea sample after fermentation had golden flowers, deeper color, more flat and tight strips and deeper tea soup color. Its taste changed from astringency to mellow and its aroma changed from the flowery and fruity aroma of sun-dried dark tea and the smoky pine aroma of the seven-star stove to the strong and pure fungus aroma. Biochemical component analysis shows that the contents of taste components such as flavonoids, tea polyphenols, free amino acids, catechins and quercetin in fermented loose tea were generally lower than that of primary dark tea, and the soluble sugar and myricetin show a downward trend. HS-SPME/GC-MS analysis shows that there were a total of 71 aroma components in the tea samples, including 14 hydrocarbons, 16 alcohols, 10 aldehydes, 10 ketones, 6 esters, 4 phenols, 1 lactone, 6 nitrogen compounds and 4 oxygen compounds. Styrene and geraniol isobutyrate were the common aroma components of the primary dark tea. (E)-linalool 3,7-oxide, isophytol and acetophenone were the common aroma components of the fermented loose tea. Compared with the aroma components of primary dark tea, 16 components such as methyl salicylate, (E)-oxidized linalool (furan), (E)-linalool 3,7- oxide, β-ionone and geraniol isobutyrate were the characteristic aroma components of the loose tea fermented by Eurotium cristatum LJSC.2005.

Inhibitory Effect of Catechin Monomer EGC on Pancreatic Lipase and Mechanism

MAN Ziyi, FENG Yi, WU Xiangting

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 863-874. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.001

Abstract ( 256 )

PDF (963KB) ( 154 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

In order to study the inhibitory effect and mechanism of epigallocatechin (EGC) on pancreatic lipase, EGC monomer was obtained from dry green tea by hot water extraction, chloroform depigmentation and column chromatography. The structure of purified EGC monomer was characterized by scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. The inhibitory effect and types of EGC on pancreatic lipase were studied by titration, and the effect of EGC on pancreatic lipase structure was characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular docking. The results show that EGC exhibited the inhibition on pancreatic lipase in a non-competitive manner. The inhibitory effect continued to rise with the increase of EGC concentration, and the half inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) was (1.62±0.085) mg·mL^-1. There was a fluorescence quenching effect of EGC on pancreatic lipase. EGC could bind to amino acid residues in the enzyme through intermolecular hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions, resulting in the changes in chemical structure and spatial conformation of the enzymes, thus decreasing the enzyme activity. The results show that EGC mainly inhibited the activity of pancreatic lipase by changing the chemical structure and spatial conformation of pancreatic lipase, so as to achieve the hypolipidemic effect.

Preparation and Quality Analysis of Standard Samples of Hunan Black Tea

YIN Xia, TONG Tong, XIAO Yangbo, HUANG Jing, BAO Xiaocun, LIU Shujuan, WU Wenliang, WANG Kuofei, WU Chongyue, LIU Zhonghua, ZHANG Shuguang

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 875-885. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.003

Abstract ( 270 )

PDF (1388KB) ( 169 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

The standard tea samples are indispensable for the objective and accurate identification of tea quality. In this study, the preparation process of standard Hunan black tea standard samples was introduced and its quality was analyzed. The results of the sensory evaluation and biochemical components show that the supper grade of standard Hunan black tea sample had the highest amino acid content, making the taste sweet and mellow. The terpenoid contents in 110 volatile aroma substances identified were significantly higher than those of other tea samples, and the aroma was tender, sweet, rich and lasting. The first grade standard sample had the highest water extracts and catechin content, making the taste mellow. Meanwhile 114 volatile aroma substances were identified, with the contents of various volatile components in the middle level, showing a pure sweet flavor. The second grade standard sample contained relatively low taste component contents, showing sweet with a bit thick taste, and 109 volatile aroma substances were identified. The contents of fatty acid-derived volatile substances and carotenoids were significantly higher than those of other tea samples, showing sweet and floral aroma. This study can provide a reference for the processing and production of Hunan black tea.

Policy and the Total Factor Productivity Change of Tea Industry in China

ZHU Weili, CHEN Jianghua, LI Daohe

Journal of Tea Science. 2022, 42(6): 886-899. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2022.06.010

Abstract ( 288 )

PDF (515KB) ( 233 )

References | Related Articles | Metrics | Cite this Article

In this paper, the changing trend of China's tea industry policy from 1986 to 2018 was sorted out, the total factor productivity of China's tea industry was calculated by using data envelopment analysis, and the impact of tea industry policy on the change of total factor productivity was tested by using Tobit model. The results show that: (1) The number of industrial policies can significantly improve the total factor productivity of tea industry, and this promotion effect still exists after the endogenous problem is solved. (2) The number of encouraging policies and direct policies have a lasting impact on the total factor productivity (TFP) of tea industry, while the number of restrictive policies and indirect policies have a time lag effect on the TFP of tea industry. (3) Direct policies have the greatest impact on the total factor productivity of the tea industry, and indirect policies have the least impact on the total factor productivity of the tea industry. In order to improve the total factor productivity of tea industry, the government should strengthen policy support and improve the timeliness of industrial policies.

Table of Content