Leaf structure and production trait of wild tea (Camellia sinensis) from Fusui county

ObjectiveThe leaf structure of wild tea (Camellia sinensis) was anatomized and analyzed to provide references for high-quality tea production,identification of breeding sources,and cultivation of tea in Guangxi Province.MethodThe anatomy structures of leaves from 9 strains of wild tea from Fusui of Guangxi were studied via paraffin section and optical microtechnique to compare the anti-adversity, potential productivity, tea-making suitability,and greenness-keeping. ResultThe results showed that there was significant variation in anatomy structures of leaves, pro-duction-increase trait and productivity characteristics among 9 wild tea strains. The thickness of the upper epidermic cells ranged from 19.31 to 26.26 μm,while the mesophyll from 189.47 to 335.37 μm,spongy tissue from 121.04 to 238.32 μm,and productivity index from 1268.96 to 3105.60, respectively. Variance analysis showed that the differ-ences in structural characteristics and production index among different strains reached extremely significant level (P<0.01). The resistance states were the strongest in Gubiao 7 and 8, and the productions were the highest in Gubiao 8 and 6 , and the most appropriate ones for black tea were Gubiao 8 and 1 . ConclusionThe leaves of 9 strains of Fusui wild tea are partial drought type structure, having strong ability of drought resistance , cold resistance and resis-tance to diseases and pests. Owing to their superior comprehensive traits, Gubiao 1,6,7 and 8 should be further iden-tified as top materials for tea breeding.