Abstract:
The tea plant (Camellia sinensis L.) is grown in
more than 52 countries in the tropical and
subtropical regions of the world and is
considered a significant source of revenue. It is
a shade-loving plant that had originated in the
forest under-story and it is usually grown as a
mono-crop under shade trees throughout its
lifetime [1]. There are a lot of positive effects of
having shade trees in tea fields, including
protecting tea plants from high temperature,
direct solar radiation and acting as a wind barrier
[2]. Varying responses in terms of productivity
under different shade, conditions have been
reported in several studies [3, 4], leading to a
controversy over the need for a suitable shade
management in tea plantations. However, the
photosynthetic characterization of tea leaves
under different shade levels with different light
intensities are not well understood, although it
has been studied in other tropical trees such
as Theobroma cacao [5]. Hence, to enhance
photosynthesis with different light intensities
and shade levels, knowledge of the
physiological parameters of tea leaves are
important to identify superior traits that could be
incorporated in developing proper shade
management strategies. Therefore, the
objectives of this study were to examine the
photosynthetic behavior and some related
physiological parameters of mature tea bushes
under different levels of shade with different
light intensities.
