Comparison of yield and growth parameters of five different tea [camellia sinensis (L.O) kuntze] cultivars in the low-country intermediate zone of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study was conducted to compare yield and growth parameters of five different tea cultivars viz. TRI 2023, TRI 2026, TRI 2027, TRI 4042 and TRI4047 in low country intermediate zone of Sri Lanka. Yield, shoot growth, number of plucking points per bush and height increment of plucking table were recorded for the period from April to July 2009. Significantly, high yields were recorded in TRI 2027 (3,063.5 kg/ha/yr) and TRI 2023 (3,015.2 kg/ha/yr) when compared to other selected cultivars. TRI 2027 showed the highest number of plucking points per bush whereas, TRI 4047 recorded the lowest number of plucking points per bush and the highest shoot growth. In this study, the cultivar which is having the highest number of plucking points per bush (TRI 2027) records significantly the highest yield indicating the number of plucking points per bush determines the final yield rather man shoot growth. Since experimental site low country intermediate zone received well-distributed rainfall throughout the study, a long term-study on yield comparison is further needed to select the suitable high yielding cultivars for low country intermediate zone of Sri Lanka.