Journal of Tea Science

Metabonomic Analysis on the Effects of different Nitrogen Application Rates and Light/Dark Change on Metabolism in Tea Leaves

YANG Yi-yang, MA Li-feng, LI Xing-hui, R. G. Ratcliffe, N. J. Kruger, RUAN Jian-yun

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 491-499. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.008

Abstract ( 467 )

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Amino acids, polyphenols, caffeine and other metabolites such as sugars and aromatic substances are important determinants of tea quality. Different cultivation practices affect tea quality by altering the basic metabolite profiles. In this study, the metabolomic changes through nitrogen and samples collected in day and night were investigated in fresh tea shoots by ¹H-NMR for non-targeted analysis coupled with a multivariate data analysis and by HPLC for targeted analysis to reveal the mechanism of formation, transformation and relationship of the major characteristic quality components in fresh tea leaves. Non-targeted analysis with ¹H-NMR showed significant effect of samples collected in day and night but no difference among N application rates. However, targeted analysis with HPLC showed both significant variations in amino acids and catechins as affected by N rates and light/dark change. There were higher sensitivity of amino acids and sugars but lower sensitivity of tea polyphenols through the metabolomic analysis using ¹H-NMR.

Photosynthetic Characteristic of Different Tea Cultivars in Response to Nitrogen Deficiency

LIN Zheng-he, ZHONG Qiu-sheng, CHEN Chang-song, YOU Xiao-mei, CHEN Zhi-hui

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 500-504. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.009

Abstract ( 520 )

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Vegetative propagated seedlings of 4 different tea cultivars grown in pots were fertilized with nutrient solution containing 0βmmol/L and 6βmmol/L nitrogen. The growth and photosynthetic characteristics of tea plant were analyzed under normal and nitrogen deficiency stress condition. The results showed that the DW of stem shoot and root DW decreased significantly under the nitrogen deficiency stress condition except the root DW of ‘Tieguanyin’. Both the CO₂ assimilation and stomatal conductance of ‘Huangguanyin’ and ‘Maoxie’ cultivar decreased significantly under nitrogen deficiency but those of ‘Fuyun 6’ and ‘Tieguanyin’ did not change significantly. Intercellular CO₂concentration of ‘Huangguanyin’ and ‘Maoxie’ cultivar increased significantly, whereas ‘Fuyun 6’ and ‘Tieguanyin’ did not change significantly. The maximal photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) of ‘Huangguanyin’ and ‘Maoxie’ cultivar decreased significantly, whereas ‘Fuyun 6’ and ‘Tieguanyin’ cultivar did not change significantly. In conclusion, the damage of photosynthetic system on ‘Huangguanyin’ and ‘Maoxie’ cultivar was more serious than that of ‘Fuyun 6’ and ‘Tieguanyin’ cultivar under the nitrogen deficiency stress.

Leaf Photosynthetic Traits at Different Canopies of Tea Plants

YU Hai-yun, SHI Yuan-zhi, MA Li-feng, YI Xiao-yun, RUAN Jian-yun

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 505-511. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.010

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The canopy photosynthetic capacity is one of the dominant factors determining the productivity of tea plants. The photosynthetic traits, physiological and ecological factors as well as their interactions of 10-year old tea plant (Longjing 43 cultivar) at surface, middle, low positions in the canopy receiving 100%, 50%~70%, 0%~15% photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) were investigated in this paper. The received PAR decreased sharply from the surface to low canopy, while CO₂ concentration was the highest at low canopy. There were magnificent decreases of leaf mass area ratio (LMA), total nitrogen (N_A), total carbon (C_A), chlorophyll contents based on leaf area from the surface to low canopy. However, the contents of total N and C were not significantly different among positions in tea plant when calculated based on leaf mass. Leaves at the surface and middle positions, but not low canopy showed typical light response curves fitting well to the Farquhar model. The light-saturated photosynthesis rate (P_n), stomatal conductance (G_s), transpiration rate (Tr) also decreased markedly from surface canopy to low canopy, while concentration of intercellular CO₂ (C_i) was the highest at low canopy. Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) of surface canopy and middle canopy were significantly higher than that of low canopy. The overall results suggested that the decreased P_n within the leaves of tea plant from surface to low canopy was mainly related to the reduced capacity of photosystem and carboxylation efficiency caused by decreased light intensity instead of low G_s. More research is needed to illustrate the optimum canopy structure shaped by rational agronomical management which could improve the canopy photosynthetic capacity of tea plants.

Gray Correlation Analysis of Physiological Traits Related to Drought Tolerance in Tea Plant

WANG Xiao-ping, WANG Yun, TANG Xiao-bo, LUO Fan, MA Wei-wei, WANG Ying-chun, LI Chun-hua

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 512-516. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.011

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A total of 5 physiological traits measured in 5 tea cultivars which grown at drought conditions, and analyzed using gray relational grade analysis method. Results showed that, the analysis between each trait and its drought tolerance index were ranked according to their gray correlation degree to drought tolerance as follows: activities of SOD(0.6658), malondialdehyde content(0.6595), soluble sugar content(0.6282), activities of POD(0.6094), dissociative proline content(0.5950). The drought tolerance of tested cultivars was decreased as follows: D-1, Tezao213, S-1, Fu-ding-da-bai, T-1.

Geographical Distribution and Morphology of Wild Tea Germplasm Resources in Guizhou and Its Relationship with Climatic Factors

LIU Sheng-chuan, CAO Yu, YAN Dong-hai, WEI Jie, ZHAO Hua-fu, DUAN Xue-yi

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 517-525. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.012

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In order to explore geographical distribution and morphology of old wild tea plants in Guizhou and clarify their relationship with climatic factors based on canonical and pearson correlation analysis, the eighty-one wild tea plants germplasm resources whose age were more than 100 years old were collected from natural condition in Guizhou. Eighty-one wild tea plants were classified as four species and two varietics of Sect. Thea (L.) Dyer. Nine plants of C. tachangensis were maily distributed in the in the southwestern Guizhou with high temperature and humidity. Nine plants of C. gymnogya were mainly distributed in northwestern Guizhou with similar climatic condition. One plant of C. crassicolumna was located in Malu town in Jinsha County. Three plants of C. assamica were distributed in the border of Guangxi and Guizhou provinces with higher temperature and humidity. Fifty-nine plants of C. sinensis, mainly distributed in the central and western Guizhou, were widely scattered in Guizhou province. By means of canonical correlation analysis, climatic factors had a great impact on geographic distribution of these eighty-one wild tea germplasm. For example, annual precipitation, annual mean air temperature and annual extreme minimum air temperature showed a more significant impact on the geographic distribution of C. gymnogya. C. gymnogya, C. crassicolumna and C. tachangensis species were arbor and large leaf with leather or thin leather. The C. assamica species was semi-arbor and large leaf without leather. The fifty-nine C. sinensis plants with diverse morphology, mainly consisted of middle shaped leaf varieties, and their leaf area was moderately positively correlated with annual extreme maximum air temperature（r=0.28, P<0.05）. It was concluded that Guizhou possibly existed original distribution centers of wild tea plants containing C. gymnogya, C. tachangensis and C. sinensis species, and climatic factors influenced their geographic distribution, evolution and partial morphology.

Genetic Diversity of Tea Germplasm Resource ‘Huangjincha’ (Camellia sinensis) Revealed by AFLP Analysis

WU Yang, DENG Ting-ting, LI Juan, LI Yin-hua, LIU Shuo-qian, WANG Ying-zi, HUANG Jian-an, LIU Zhong-hua

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 526-531. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.013

Abstract ( 422 )

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111 tea strains from ‘Huangjincha’ population were analyzed by AFLP-sliver staining protocol for detecting the genetic diversity and relationship. AFLP fingerprinting of 111 samples with primer combinations E37M32, E41M33 and E41M42 revealed a total number of unambiguous 229 bands, of which 186 were polymeric and the polymorphism frequency was 81.22%. The results showed that abundant diversities existed among samples of genomic DNA. The mean of effective number of alleles, Nei′s gene diversity and Shannon′s information index of 111 samples were 1.42±0.35, 0.25±0.18, 0.38±0.25 respectively. As analyzed by NTSYSpc2.1, the similarity coefficient of 111 samples ranged from 0.65 to 0.99, and the mean was 0.76. These tea strains were divided into 8 groups by UPGMA based on the mean of similarity coefficient, and AFLP dendrogram was established. In conclusion, the results provide the basis for the protection and utilization of ‘Huangjincha’ population from molecular level.

Cloning and Prokaryotic Expression of O-methyltransferase from Camellia sinensis

MA Cheng-ying, SHI Jiang, LV Hai-peng, ZHANG Yue, TAN Jun-feng, GUO Li, PENG Qun-hua, LIN Zhi

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 532-540. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.014

Abstract ( 455 )

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A full length cDNA of O-methyltransferase gene was obtained from Camellia sinensis and the prokaryotic expression vector for this gene was constructed. Based on total RNA from tea leaves, a O-methyltransferase cDNA sequence of tea was obtained by RT-PCR and RACE. The whole cDNA sequence 1β280βbp which contains an ORF of 1β068βbp and encodes 355 amino acids. The putative protein of this gene had an isoelectric point of 5.68 and a calculated molecular weight of 39.1βkD. The amino acid sequence of tea O-methyltransferase showed 73%, 71% identity with that of Vitis vinifera and Ricinus communis respectively. The coding sequence had been cloned into pET-28a and transformed into the host BL21. Results of SDS-PAGE showed that the specific fusion protein was successfully induced to express by IPTG.

Analysis on Literature Development Trend of International Tea Polyphenols Research Based on the Web of Science

YANG Hua, WANG Xiao-ping, GAN Wen-zhi, XIAN Jun-ren

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 541-549. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.002

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Based on the searching of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) database, the research status and trends of tea polyphenols were studied by analyzing the publication years, journals of SCI articles, and hot keywords with the method of bibliometrical analysis. Meanwhile, Histcite, Bibexcel and Netdraw were used to study the international research development of tea polyphenols from a brand-new angle. The results indicated that: the 1β958 collected papers were published in 713 journals, averaged 2.75 papers per journal, and focused in 50 research directions; there were 6233 authors (the first author were 1β454), 66 countries or regions, and 1β539 organizations to participate in international tea polyphenols research. 327 published papers had been completed by international cooperation (16.7% of the total), and the major(61 papers) was Sino-US cooperation (14.32% of the cooperation). The analysis also showed that the important period of international tea polyphenols rearch was about ten years from 1993 to 2003, especially in 1997, and the international tea polyphenols research focused on the constituents of tea polyphenols and their physiological activities.

The Selective Synthesis of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-(4-O-methylgallate)

LAI Rong-hui, ZHAO Wen-fang, HUANG Ya-hui, ZHOU Wen, WU Chun-lan, LAI Xing-fei, ZHAO Wen-xia, ZHANG Min

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 550-555. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.001

Abstract ( 564 )

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(-)-epigallocatechin-3-(4-O-methylgall ate)(EGCG4″Me) was selective synthesized through chemical process from EGCG and propyl gallate (PG), with iodomethane (CH₃I) as methylating reagent, in this paper. The final product was characterized by H¹-NMR.

Isolation and Molecular Identification of Fungal Colonization on LiuPao Tea in Guangxi

MAO Yan, HUANG Li, WEI Bao-yao, XIA Ning, TENG Jian-wen

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 556-561. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.003

Abstract ( 630 )

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A strain of “Jinhua” fungi was isolated from Liupao tea which manufactured Guangxi Yintai Tea Factory in 2008 (No. 6918). The morphology of colony of the tested fungi was observed with microscope, and the tested fungi was identified in the molecular level by DNA sequencing. According to the characteristic of the morphology, microscopic as well as the DNA sequencing of the tested strains, it was identified as Eurotium niveoglaucum.

The Community Structure and Diversity of Entomopathogenic Fungi in the Tea Garden Soil of Guangdong Province

WANG Pin, HUANG Cui, LI Jian-long, LI Zeng-zhi, WANG Bin

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 562-569. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.007

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Soil is an important reservoir of entomopathogenic fungi in the fields. The community structure and species diversity of the entomopathogenic fungi in the soil of four tea gardens in Yingde, Guangdong province was investigated. Four genus and 8 species of entomogenous fungi was identified, and their population dynamics were monitored by the selective medium technique. The results showed Paecilomyces lilacinus dominated the community by a population percentage of 90.20% to the total, and followed by Metarhizium anisopliae of 5.60%. Community diversity of the entomogenous fungi changed with seasons. The brillouin diversity index reached peak at a value of 0.7148 and 0.6918 in spring and in summer, and decreased to 0.4940 and 0.4302 in autumn and in winter, respectively. The more complex of plant structure in the tea gardens showed, the higher biological diversity of entomogeneous fungi in the soil of the tea gardens was found. The monocultured tea garden shaded by tree layer had a diversity index of 1.0651, which far higher than that of 0.3393 of the garden without tree layer. More cultivars of tea bush in a garden increase the diversity and richness of entomopathogenic fungi in the soil. The diversity index was also increased. Plant structure played an important ecological role in increasing diversity of an entomopathogenic fungi community in a tea garden soil.

Screeining and Identification of the Antagonistic Bacterial Strain Against Ice Nucleation Active Bacteria on Tea Plant

HUANG Xiao-qin, ZHANG Li-xia, LIU Hui-xiang, HAN Xiao-yang, CHEN Zong-mao, LI Duo-chuan

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 570-575. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.006

Abstract ( 536 )

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The strain TS1 had been isolated from the soil of tea garden, through the determination performance of the bacteria plate experiment, it can produce the antagonistic performance to the ice nucleation active bacteria which existed on tea plant. According to morphological characteristics and 16βS rDNA sequence analysis, the strain TS1 were preliminary identified as the genus Bacillus subtilis. This paper makes it clear of the species and genus about strain TS1 and provides a good foundation for the biocontrol of tea plant frost injury.

Optimization Study of Tea Winnowing Machine

ZHONG Jiang, HUANG Jian-hong, YANG Tao, ZHANG Xian, ZHAO Zhang-feng

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 576-583. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.004

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In order to improve the quality of tea wind-selecting, tea particles’ running track and indoor flow state of winnowing room were studied by the methods of theoretical analysis and fluid dynamics simulation, and combined with experimental verification. The results showed that the effective drift distance between particles of different weight is greater than the other air velocity distribution program when the air velocity distribution near wind crossing was set at rising from the top to the bottom. Vortexes are found in winnowing room due to structural reasons. Trajectory of tea in No. 4 and No. 5 export is more susceptible to the disturbance of the vortex because of its weight. Vortex could be decreased by using spoiler, which will also reduce the proportion of mixed tea and improve the winnowing quality.

Research on Recognition of Tea Tender Leaf Based on Image Color Information

WU Xue-mei, ZHANG Fu-gui, LV Jing-tang

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 584-589. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.015

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The images of tea leaf in Qingming period were taken by digital camera for extracting tea color information. Firstly, the color information of G and G-B component of tender leaf and old leaf based on RGB color model was analyzed. The color difference between tender leaf and old leaf was able to distinguish the tender leaf from background. Then the original threshold from color analysis was set and the segmentation thresholds for G and G-B component were calculated by improved Ostu (the algorithm of threshold automatically extracted according to the maximum deviation). Finally, the recognition algorithm of tea tender leaf was proposed. Experimental results showed that the algorithm is useful for eliminating the impact of light and rapid in identifying the tender leaf from background. The accuracy rate is more than 92% when the distance between camera and tea bush is about 10βcm. The research results were useful to provide recognition technical supports for an intelligent picking machine development.

Characterization of Pb after Accumulated and Localized in Ultra-structure Cells of Hydroponic Tea Plant

LI Pin-wu, FAN Shi-sheng, DU Xiao

Journal of Tea Science. 2013, 33(6): 590-597. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2013.06.016

Abstract ( 375 )

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This study applied lead salts hydroponic tea plant, observed and analyzed Pb accumulation and ultra-structure localization in the cells of root, stem, leaves by the TEM-EDS method. The results showed that most of Pb evenly distributed on the cell wall of root cells, only few Pb distributed on the plasma, cytoplasm, vacuole membrane and intercellular space. While, Pb on cell wall of stem were numerals and small, and a little on plasma, vacuole membrane and chloroplast. Pb in leaves were mainly on plasma and vacuole membrane, there were only a little on the cell wall of leaves.

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