Tea Garden Research Articles

A Qualitative Study on Sustainability of Tea Industry: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities Using PESTEL Review

The fundamental value of this study is to examine the sustainability issues of the tea industry in Bangladesh using PESTLE (Political, Economic, Technological, Social, Environmental, and Legal factors) analysis. PESTEL analysis perceived that the macro-environmental factors in the sustainable tea industry of Bangladesh are rather unpromising as a consequence, making it a profitable industry through evaluating its challenges and opportunities. A qualitative research method has been applied to measure the importance of the macro-environmental factors and their level of influence on the tea industry. For the data collection purpose, this study used an interviewing method and the thematic analysis was applied for data analysis purposes. 3o industry experts and stakeholders were interviewed and some major insights are discovered. Lack of governance of public authority, limited awareness of sustainability issues, below-standard labor wages, achieving economies of scale, outdated machineries and technologies and liberal import law are some significant challenges facing the sustainable tea industry of Bangladesh. The findings may provide useful suggestions for the policy-makers, researchers, developers and tea garden owners for decision-making purposes.

Biochar addition to tea garden soils: effects on tea fluoride uptake and accumulation

Long-term consumption of tea with high fluoride (F) content has a potential threat to human health. The application of different amounts of biochar to reduce F accumulation in tea leaves has been little studied. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of biochar amounts (0, 0.5%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 8.0%, and 10.0%, w/w) on tea F content during the tea plant growth. Changes in tea quality, soil F fraction, and soil properties caused by biochar and the relationship with tea F accumulation were also considered. The results showed that the application of biochar amendment significantly reduced water-soluble F contents in tea leaves compared to CK (without biochar), especially in the 8.0% treatment (72.55%). Overall, biochar contributed to improving tea polyphenols and caffeine, but had no significant impact on free amino acids and water leachate. Compared with CK, 5.0–10.0% biochar significantly increased soil water-soluble F content due to the substitution of F− with OH− under high pH. Additionally, biochar applied to tea garden soil was effective in decreasing the soil exchangeable aluminum (Ex-Al) content (46.37–91.90%) and increasing the soil exchangeable calcium (Ca2+) content (12.02–129.74%) compared to CK, and correlation analysis showed that this may help reduce F enrichment of tea leaves. In general, the application of 5.0–8.0% biochar can be suggested as an optimal application dose to decrease tea F contents while simultaneously improving tea quality.Graphical

Iron deficiency anaemia and effect of nutrition education on change in dietary behavior among the adolescent girls of tea garden area in Nagaon district, Assam

Iron deficiency anaemia and effect of nutrition education on change in dietary behavior among the adolescent girls of tea garden area in Nagaon district, Assam

Research on the Integration Trend of Tea Industry & Tea Garden Tourism in China

Research on the Integration Trend of Tea Industry & Tea Garden Tourism in China

Chemical Stoichiometry and Enzyme Activity Changes during Mixed Decomposition of Camellia sinensis Pruning Residues and Companion Tree Species Litter

(1) Background: In managing ecological tea gardens, litter composed of pruned and fallen tea leaves from companion tree species is an important component of tea garden soil. The decomposition of litter plays a crucial role in regulating nutrient cycling in tea garden ecosystems. (2) Methods: This study employed the litterbag method to investigate chemical stoichiometry characteristics and enzyme activity changes during the decomposition process of pruned and fallen Camellia sinensis leaves from companion tree species in an ecological tea garden located in central Guizhou Province. (3) Results: With decomposition duration, the general trend of changes in the C/N and C/P ratios showed a decrease in the activity of UE (urease), AP (acid phosphatase), and PPO (polyphenol oxidase) followed by an increase, while CAT (catalase) and CEL (cellulase) activity decreased, then increased, and then decreased again. On the other hand, the N/P and the activity of SC (sucrase) first increased and then decreased. The C/N and the activities of UE, PPO, and AP generally reached their maximum values during the late decomposition stage (366–428 d), while the N/P and the CAT activity peaked during the mid-decomposition stage (305 d). In contrast, the activity of SC and CEL reached its maximum value during the early decomposition stage (123 d). The N/P ratios were significantly higher than those of the CS (C. sinensis) litter in the mixed treatment, while C/N and C/P ratios were significantly lower than those in the CS during decomposition for 184–366 days. The UE, CAT, AP, and SC activities of CBL (C. sinensis + B. luminifera) litter were significantly higher than those of the CS litter during decomposition. During the experiment, antagonistic effects were observed in the C/N and C/P ratios of the different litter types. Most mixed litter exhibited additive effects on enzyme activity, while a few showed nonadditive effects. For the nonadditive effects, most were antagonistic effects, mainly in the CPM (C. sinensis + C. glanduliferum) litter. A small portion, mainly observed in the CBL and CCG (C. sinensis + C. glanduliferum) litter, showed synergistic effects. (4) Conclusions: Selecting B. luminifera and C. glanduliferum to be part of the tree species composition in ecological tea gardens can produce positive mixed effects on enzyme activity during litter decomposition, increase nutrient return capacity, maintain tea garden fertility, and achieve the ecological development of tea gardens.

Influence of Modified Biochar on Soil Fluoride and Cadmium Speciation and Their Bioavailability to Tea Seedling (Camellia Sinensis L.)

ABSTRACT Biochar is widely used as a good soil amendment, while knowledge of modified biochar application in tea garden soils contaminated by fluoride (F) and cadmium (Cd) is insufficient. The tea seedling (Camellia sinensis L.) growth assay was performed to evaluate interaction of soil Cd and F and the improving effect of aluminum trichloride-modified corn stalk biochar (Al-BC) on their speciation, phytoaccumulation and phytotoxicity. Results showed that soil F speciation ratio sequence was as follows: residual > exchangeable > organic-bound > water-soluble > Fe/Mn oxide-bound. Soil exchangeable Cd was the largest Cd speciation (>35.6%), probably due to the low pH values in the acid tea gardens. Root F contents showed a strong significant relationship with soluble F contents (r = 0.92, P < .01) and similarly root Cd highly connected with exchangeable Cd (r = 0.86, P < .01). Seedling height, fresh and dry weight, root surface area, length, and photosynthetic pigment showed different sensitivities to F or Cd oxidative stress and toxicity effects, and only root F contents significantly inversely correlated with them (r = 0.74–0.80, P < .01). The interaction of Cd and F, could influence their speciation distribution and antagonized each other in root accumulation. Meanwhile, joint simulation models showed that antagonistic effects were observed in the F and Cd mixture soils for most cases at Enshi. Biochar application reduced bioavailable F and Cd contents, and thus decreased F and Cd accumulation in tea roots and obviously alleviated toxicity effects. For instance, biochar application significantly reduced root F contents, which had 33.2% to 62.2% declines at Enshi and 39.7% to 77.2% declines at Huanggang. Meanwhile, the soil properties were improved as biochar added, with an increase in soil pH, EC, CEC and organic matter. Overall, Al-modified biochar was beneficial environmental materials for reducing both F and Cd bioavailability.

Cross-cultivar prediction of quality indicators of tea based on VIS-NIR hyperspectral imaging

The rapid detection of quality indicators of fresh tea leaves is helpful to guide tea garden management. Therefore, it is very important to develop a fast and reliable detection method for fresh tea leaf quality indicators. In this study, the feasibility of visible-near-infrared hyperspectral image (VNHI) combined with stoichiometry for the determination of tea polyphenols (TP) and crude fiber (CF) in 14 cultivars of tea plants was investigated. Based on the VNHI, different tea cultivars were distinguished with an accuracy of 99.56% by using one-dimensional ResNet18 (1D-ResNet18). For the quantitative determination of CF and TP contents, the prediction determination coefficient (r2) reached 0.80 and 0.77, respectively, by integrating VNHI with PLS. In addition, we proposed a generalization index (GI) that can evaluate the cross-cultivar generalization ability of models. The GI can judge if the model built on a few tea cultivars can predict the quality indicators of other cultivars. Then, the predicted distribution maps of CF and TP contents were analyzed. The results showed that the quantitative models based on spectra (474–1734 nm) had higher cross-cultivar generalization ability with higher mean GI_0.7 in predicting the cross-cultivar content of CF (mean GI_0.7 = 2.563) and TP (mean GI_0.7 = 1.376). The models based on spectra (474–1030 nm) had stronger visualization ability with lower mean predictive variance. This study proved the feasibility of the VNHI technique in predicting the content of TP and CF of multiple cultivars of tea plants and provided methods with higher generalization, perceptual intuition, and speediness for the detection of quality indicators of tea in the field.

Profitability assessment of tea based inter cropping in Golaghat district of Assam

A study was conducted to find out the profitability obtained in different intercropping systems in tea gardens of small tea growers in Golaghat district of Assam.The production and income from tea, was significantly influenced by the intercrops in different cropping systems. Mostly, the small tea growers planted areca nut and agarwood as intercrops in tea in Golaghat district. Higher yield was recorded in sole tea crop than inter cropping with Agarwood and areca nut. However, sole tea crop was recorded lower gross return compared to different intercropping systems.The average return over variable cost from mix cropping of tea with areca nut (1,98,896.81 Rs./ha), with Agarwood (2,49,152.72) and with areca nut and Agarwood (2,98,201.31) intercropping system combined was recorded much higher than that of conventional cultivation of sole tea (130389.24 Rs./ha). Thus, this study reveals that mix copping system of tea can add an extra income for the small tea growers and can also act as a backup against high risk of sole tea cultivation due to price fluctuation in green tea leaves. Moreover, tea+areca nut+ Agarwood intercropping system had the highest B:C ratio of 3.06 amongst all the studied intercropping systems but, tea + agarwood recorded the highest LER value of 1.61 which suggested that though the return was higher in tea + areca nut + agarwood intercropping system, the suitable land utilization was observed in tea + agarwood cropping system.

Spatial Disequilibrium and Dynamic Evolution of Eco-Efficiency in China’s Tea Industry

Eco-efficiency is a significant target for evaluating the agricultural ecosystem and measuring sustainable agricultural development through quantitative analysis. It is also an essential part of constructing the ecological tea garden, which offers a directional function in realizing the green development of the tea industry. After measuring the eco-efficiency of China’s tea industry using the super-efficiency SBM model, this paper analyzes the spatial disequilibrium and dynamic evolution trend of the eco-efficiency in China’s tea industry through the method of Dagum Gini Coefficient and Kernel Density Estimation. The results show that the level of eco-efficiency in China’s tea industry was improved overall, and the spatial disequilibrium was significantly reduced. The differences within the tea region decreased as follows: tea regions in Southwest China, South China, south of the Yangtze River, and north of the Yangtze River; the overall difference in the eco-efficiency in the tea industry mainly comes from the contribution of the interregional difference in tea regions, and the second contribution comes from the intraregional difference in tea regions and the difference in super-variable density. The eco-efficiency of the tea industry has been improved both nationally and within the top four tea regions; the disequilibrium between areas and within the tea region has been largely alleviated, but there is still room to optimize the input–output structure and promote the eco-efficiency.

Rare earth elements in tea garden soils and their bioavailability to tea buds in Taiwan

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is a widespread beverage plant that prefers aluminum-enriched acidic soils. However, rare earth elements (REEs) might be highly phyto-available in these soils. With the increasing demands for REEs in high-technology industries, understanding the dynamics of REEs in the environment is essential. Thus, this study identified the total concentration of REEs in the root-zone soils and corresponding tea buds (n = 35) collected from tea gardens in Taiwan. Additionally, the labile REEs in the soils were extracted with 1 M KCl, 0.1 M HCl, and 0.05 M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to elucidate the fractionation tendency of REEs in the soil-plant system and the relationships between REEs and Al in the tea buds. The concentration of light REEs (LREEs) was higher than those of medium REEs (MREEs) and heavy REEs (HREEs) in all soil and tea bud samples. According to the upper continental crust (UCC) normalization, MREEs and HREEs were more abundant than LREEs in the tea buds. Furthermore, REEs remarkably increased with increasing Al in the tea buds, whereas the linear correlations between Al and MREEs and HREEs were stronger than between LREEs. Compared with LREEs, the extractabilities of MREEs and HREEs by all single extractants in the soils were higher, coinciding with their higher UCC-normalization-based enrichments in the tea buds. Moreover, the 0.1 M HCl- and 0.05 M EDTA-extractable REEs were affected by soil properties and significantly correlated with the total REEs in the tea buds. The concentration of REEs in the tea buds was successfully predicted by empirical equations of extractable REEs with 0.1 M HCl and 0.05 M EDTA, as well as general soil properties including pH, organic carbon, dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate-extractable iron, aluminum, and phosphorus. However, this prediction should be further verified using many soil and tea types in the future.

Distribution, determination method, risk assessment, and strategy of exogenous pyrrolizidine alkaloids in tea

Background and aimPyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are secondary metabolites produced by plants. At present, more than 660 PAs have been identified in more than 6000 plants, mainly belonging to the families Boraginaceae, Compositae, Leguminosae, and so forth. PAs and their corresponding nitrogen oxides have variedtoxicities, including hepatotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity, and genotoxicity. The long-term intake of PAs can lead to cancer. This study aimed to review the literature on tea derived from C. sinensis only. ResultsTea is one of the most frequently items usedas both medicine and food. In recent years, PAs have been frequently detected in tea. The tea plant itself does not produce PAs, theymainly come from soil contamination caused by weeds in the tea garden. ConclusionsThis study reviewed data published in recent years on the distribution, detection, risk assessment, strategy, and prospects of PAs in tea. The findings of this study mightfacilitate the qualityimprovementand safe use of PAs in tea.

Compartments of roots and mature leaves are key hubs in the connectivity of tea-plant mycobiomes and are influenced by environmental factors and host age

Understanding the tripartite consortium of crop, mycobiome, and environment is necessary to advance smart farming. Owing to their life cycle of hundreds of years, tea plants are excellent models for studying these entwined relationships; however, observations on this globally important cash crop with numerous health benefits are still rudimentary. Here, the fungal taxa along the soil–tea plant continuum in tea gardens of different ages in famous high-quality tea-growing regions in China were characterized using DNA metabarcoding. Using machine learning, we dissected the spatiotemporal distribution, co-occurrence patterns, assembly, and their associations in different compartments of tea-plant mycobiomes, and further explored how these potential interactions were driven by environmental factors and tree age, and how they influenced the market prices of tea. The results revealed that Compartment niche differentiation was the key driving force behind variation in the tea-plant mycobiome. The mycobiome of roots had the highest specific proportion and convergence and almost did not overlap with the soil. The enrichment ratio of developing leaves to root mycobiome increased with increasing tree age, while mature leaves showed the highest value in the Laobanzhang (LBZ) tea garden with top market prices and displayed the strongest depletion effect on mycobiome association along the soil–tea plant continuum. The balance between determinism and stochasticity in the assembly process was co-driven by compartment niches and life cycle variation. Fungal guild analysis showed that altitude indirectly affected market prices of tea by mediating the abundance of the plant pathogen. The relative importance of plant pathogen and ectomycorrhizae could be used to assess the age of tea. Biomarkers were mainly distributed in soil compartments, and Clavulinopsis miyabeana, Mortierella longata, and Saitozyma sp. may affect the spatiotemporal dynamics of tea-plant mycobiomes and their ecosystem services. Soil properties (mainly total potassium) and tree age indirectly affected the developing leaves via positively influencing the mycobiome of mature leaves. In contrast, the climate directly and significantly drove the mycobiome composition of the developing leaves. Moreover, the proportion of negative correlations in the co-occurrence network positively regulated tea-plant mycobiome assembly, which significantly affected the market prices of tea in the structural equation model with network complexity as hub. These findings indicate that mycobiome signatures play pivotal roles in the adaptive evolution and fungal disease control of tea plants and can help develop better agricultural practices that focus on both plant health and financial profits, and provide a new strategy for assessing tea quality grade and age.

Lightweight detection networks for tea bud on complex agricultural environment via improved YOLO v4

Rapid and accurate detection of tender tea buds in the natural tea garden environment is the basis for intelligent tea picking. However, complex models result in high hardware computing power requirements and limit the deployment of tea bud recognition models in tea-picking robots. Therefore, this paper investigates a high-precision and lightweight target detection model based on improved you-only-look-once version 4(YOLOv4). The lightweight network GhostNet is used to replace the backbone of YOLOv4, and the depthwise separable convolution is designed to substitute the standard convolution, significantly reducing the computational load and computational complexity of the model. Additionally, the convolution block attention module (CBAM) is embedded into the path aggregation network (PANet), which enhances the model’s feature extraction capability. To solve the problem of detection and distinction caused by overlapping of one-bud-one-leaf and one-bud-two-leaf, this paper proposes the CIoU loss function in YOLOv4 to the SIoU loss function. The SIoU loss function considers the vector angles of the ground truth box and the prediction box and redefines the penalty indicator to improve the training speed and detection accuracy of the model. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy of the proposed approach is 85.15% for the one-bud-one-leaf and one-bud-two-leaf. The giga floating point operations per second (GFlops) and parameters are 6.594 G and 11.353 M. Relative to the original YOLOv4, the proposed algorithm’s mean accuracy is improved by 1.08%, 89.11% reduces the computational complexity, and 82.36% reduces the number of parameters. The Tea-YOLO algorithm demonstrates significantly better actual detection performance in different angles and natural environments compared to the YOLOv4 algorithm. The algorithm proposed in this paper can detect one-bud-one-leaf and one-bud-two-leaf quickly and accurately, which reduces the cost and difficulty of deploying the vision module of the tea-picking robot.

Variation in Certain Soil Properties Based on Land Use Type, and Elevation in Arhavi Sub-Basin, Artvin, Turkiye

Knowledge of soil properties such as texture, bulk density, organic matter, soil reaction, soil electrical conductivity, and soil erodibility factor is fundamental to the sustainable management of soil resources. This study aimed to determine the changes in certain soil properties including texture, bulk density, organic matter, pH, electrical conductivity, and soil erodibility factor with different land uses, elevation zones and soil depths in the Arhavi Sub-basin, Artvin, Turkiye. For these purposes, a total of 618 soil samples (309 disturbed and 309 undisturbed) were taken from 155 sampling points located in areas with different land uses, including tea (33 sampling points), hazelnut (33 sampling points), forest (67 sampling points), and grassland (22 sampling points). The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the soils at depths of 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm showed significant differences according to the land use in terms of sand, clay, silt, bulk density, organic matter, and pH. There were significant positive correlations between elevation and soil bulk density (r = 0.495) at a soil depth of 0–15 cm in the tea areas. In the grassland areas, there were significant positive correlations between elevation and silt, bulk density, and the soil erodibility factor (r = 0.485, r = 0.794, and r = 0.442, respectively) at depths of 0–15 cm, and significant positive correlations between elevation and both silt and bulk density (r = 0.468 and r = 0.691, respectively) at depths of 15–30 cm. Similarly, there were significant positive correlations between elevation and both sand and organic matter at soil depths of 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm (sand: r = 0.351 and r = 0.638, respectively; organic matter: r = 0.277 and r = 0.587, respectively). On the other hand, significant negative correlations were found between elevation and silt, bulk density, pH, and the soil erodibility factor at depths of 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm (silt: r = −0.400 and r = −0.461, respectively; bulk density: r = −0.593 and r = −0.545, respectively; pH: r = −0.354 and r = −0.309, respectively; soil erodibility factor: r = −0.443 and r = −520, respectively). Soil acidity was found to be the most important problem threatening soil fertility in all land uses. The use of soil acidity-increasing fertilizers, such as ammonium sulfate, in tea gardens in the region should be eliminated to protect the fertility of soils in the future. The knowledge that this study provides might help farmers and foresters in the region in the proper management and fertilization of their lands. Moreover, this study will provide data to future studies related to soil acidification, soil erosion, and land use that are planned for the Arhavi Sub-basin.

Exploring Women Tea Plantation Workers' Interest in Varied Income-Generating Activities and Decision Making Pattern in Jorhat District of Assam

The present study was carried out in Jorhat district of Assam. Four (4) tea gardens under public corporation from Jorhat sub-division were selected using purposive sampling method. A total of 100 women tea plantation workers were selected for the present study. It was found that majority of the household decisions were taken jointly by their husbands followed by independent decision. It was further found that respondents spent the majority of time (7.94 hours) in working at tea garden. The majority (51.00%) of the respondents were mostly interested in poultry farming followed by goat rearing (14.00%).

BIO-EFFICACY OF BPA/B7 FORMULATIONS AGAINST HELOPELTIS THEIVORA WATERHOUSE

Tea garden soil harbors several microorganisms that help in maintaining the crop agro-ecosystem. Some soil microorganisms are beneficial and some may cause harm. The beneficial entomopathogenic fungus (BPA/B7) isolated from Tinsukia (Assam) was found to be more effective against Helopeltis theivora Waterhouse compared to other strains of Beauveria bassiana. This pathogenic fungus has been mass produced and formulated into powder and liquid formulation and its different properties have been screened under laboratory and field conditions and both the formulations were found to be effective against H. theivora.

Abstract 65: Oral Health Inequalities Among Tobacco Users in the Tea Plantation Workers, Nilgiri Hills, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract Purpose: Tea is an important agro-industry of India, which contributes immensely to the countries economy. Poor socio-economic conditions, ignorance due to illiteracy, over-crowded and unhygienic living conditions in the residential colonies make tea garden population vulnerable. Hence this study was contemplated with an aim to assess the oral health status, tobacco use and cancer awareness among tea plantation workers, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the prevalence of head and neck cancers among tobacco use and cancer awareness among tea plantation workers, Nilgiri Hills. Data was collected using a pretested Questionnaire, which included Demographic data, tobacco habits, its frequency and form. Oral examination for potentially malignant and cancerous lesions was done by the examiner. The data collected was analysed using SPSS version 21. Results: Results showed that among 900 study population, 57% had no formal education, 64.5% had indigenous brushing habits. Of those who had the habit of smoking, 26% smoked beedi, 10.9% smoked cigarette, 65% chewed raw tobacco, 18% chewed Hans and 28% had a combination of smoking and smokeless tobacco usage. 52% of oral mucosal and potentially malignant lesions, 6% oral cancers were observed. Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in the study population was due to tobacco usage and lack of awareness regarding the deleterious effects of the products used. Conclusion: The dangers from smoking and chewing tobacco are well documented within the literature but the public’s lack of knowledge of the risks is a concern. Health professionals are encouraged to ensure that the public is made aware of these risks, especially those within high-risk groups. Citation Format: Delfin Lovelina Francis. Oral Health Inequalities Among Tobacco Users in the Tea Plantation Workers, Nilgiri Hills, Tamilnadu, India [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Closing the Research-to-Implementation Gap; 2023 Apr 4-6. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 65.

Determinants of malnutrition among the tea garden workers of Darjeeling district in 2021: an ordinal regression analysis

Background: Due to increasing lifestyle changes and poverty, double burden of malnutrition is becoming more and more severe, especially in the underserved areas like tea gardens. Food security is also a major issue not only in underdeveloped countries but also in developing countries like India. The study aims to estimate the prevalence of malnutrition among the tea garden workers and to find out the associated factors with malnutrition among the tea garden workers of Darjeeling district. Methods: 200 people were selected from 10 tea gardens of Darjeeling district by cluster sampling method. They were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to find out the associated factors with malnutrition. Weight and height was measured using standard measuring tools and then BMI was calculated. To find out the determinants of nutritional status, an ordinal regression analysis was done with the help of SPSS software. Results: The prevalence of under nutrition and obesity was 25% and 20.5% respectively. The ordinal regression model showed that the odds of higher BMI was found with increasing age, male gender, being a permanent garden employee and higher educational status. Household food insecurity increased the odds of undernutrition, as individuals from food secure households had significantly higher odds of getting higher BMI. Conclusions: Nutritional status is closely associated with socio-economic and demographical variables and household food security. To ensure the health and nutrition of the tea garden workers, a more comprehensive strategy to addressing socio-demographic issues and household food security is required.

Health Propaganda and Health Consciousness in Jalpaiguri (1880 - 1945) : A Historical Overview

The present study focuses the practices of British Govt. on Health &amp; hygiene in Jalpaiguri district which constitute the health propaganda during colonial phase. British Raj extracted huge revenue from tea gardens of Jalpaiguri but spend a fragment of it in health services. The Director of Public health too regularly informed about the shortage of fund to regarding various public health schemes. To spread the govt. policies for the health services and maintain the hygiene in different community various steps were taken but did not reach to the labor line areas of various plantation industry and other rural parts of Jalpaiguri district. The role of the govt. journals was also not satisfactory in this regard because of lack of interest of colonial government. Sources gathered that many preventive measures were taken like malaria Vaccination, distribution of western medicines, mosquito net etc. as safety measures in other parts of Bengal but Jalpaiguri was kept untouched. Facilities were provided for Europeans but not as a whole for the commoners, Govt facilities were in paper but not in practices in real sense. The minimum facilities regarding health and hygiene were ignored by colonial ruler and mortality rate increased in Jalpaiguri. Though climate of Jalpaiguri was also very favorable in this regard and gradually Jalpaiguri became the store house of all diseases. Few charitable hospitals were built for minimum health services after world war I to meet the challenges but were very minimum which forced the people to depend upon indigenous medicines.

Method validation for detection of afidopyropen and M440I007 in tea.

Afidopyropen is a novel biorational insecticide for controlling piercing pests with great potential for application in tea gardens that can form the metabolite M440I007 when utilized for crops. However, because of a lack of analytical method for afidopyropen and M440I007 in tea, there is no means of monitoring the residues. Therefore, method development, validation and simultaneous determination of afidopyropen and M440I007 in fresh tea leaves, dried tea and tea infusion is of prime significance. A TPT cartridge-based method was developed for the solid phase extraction of afidopyropen and M440I007 from tea matrices. Extraction and clean-up conditions, including the composition, volume and temperature of elutions, were optimized to achieve the best results. Both targets were extracted using water and acetonitrile, with a water:acetonitrile (v/v) ratio of 4:10 for fresh leaves and 8:10 for dried tea, which were then cleaned and analyzed using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Both analytes demonstrated excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient above 0.998. The optimized analytical method offered limits of quantifications of 0.005, 0.005 and 0.002 mg kg-1 (converted to dried tea) in fresh tea shoots, dried tea and tea infusion for both targets, respectively. Average recoveries of afidopyropen and M440I007 ranged from 79.0% to 101.5%, with relative standard deviations ≤ 14.7%. The results showed that the method of determination for these insecticides in tea matrices was practical and efficient. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.