Abstract
Tea is a shade-loving plant and is propagated either by seeds or cuttings. The seedling teas exhibit the ability to endure prolonged droughts while still achieving vigorous shoot growth. This study aimed to identify high-performing seedling teas in Passara where drought is a key determinant of tea yield. Twenty-one high-performing seedlings and six extensively-used vegetatively propagated tea cultivars from three randomly selected tea estates in Passara were compared morphologically based on shoot density, banji shoots, shoot weight, internodal length, length, and width of the mature leaf. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Minitab (version 17) software. The findings demonstrated a significant difference among tea bushes considering selected morphological traits at a 5% significance level. Clustering analysis of Gonakele estate grouped GS4 with TRI 2025, GS2, and GS3 with TRI 2043. VS1 and VS3 seedlings from Varellapathna estate were clustered with TRI 2023 and CY9, respectively. Hopton estate seedlings did not cluster with vegetatively propagated cultivars. Therefore, GS2, GS3, GS4 from Gonakale, and VS1, and VS3 from Varellapathna were selected as mother bushes. Thus, the findings unveil distinct clusters of high-performing seedling teas from various estates, providing insights into potential candidates for maintaining genetic diversity in tea plantations.
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