Abstract:
Objective To hasten the conventional stem-cutting for propagating tea plants, the procedure was carried out in summer rather than in autumn for cost reduction.
Method Short stem-cutting propagation of tea plants is traditionally conducted in autumn which takes months to allow the seedling development over the winter. The long waiting period delays the operation and increases the cost to the farmers. To overcome the shortcoming, this study experimented by executing the propagation starting in the summer on short-stems cuttings of Camellia sinensis ‘Zhongcha 108’. Prior to field planting, the cuttings were pretreated with a rooting powder (RP) or a plant growth regulator VitaCat® + the rooting powder (V+RP) or without (CK, replacement with water). Growth of the evolved seedlings were monitored with determination on the contents of relevant endogenous hormones in the plants.
Result Both the rates of survival (i.e., 96.7%) and successful exit-nursery (i.e., 87.8%) were significantly higher on the seedlings with the pretreatment of V+RP than those without. On October 28, 2021, the survival rate of the V+RP-treated seedlings was 10.4% higher than that of CK and 9.2% higher than that of the RP group. And the proportion of well-developed seedlings exiting the nursery was 16.7% higher than that of CK and 20% higher than that of the RP-treated ones. Other than jasmonic acid (JA) in the V+RP-treated seedlings that was significantly 2.64 times higher than that of CK and 1.29 times higher than that of the RP-treated counterparts, no significant differences were found on the tested phytohormones in the plants.
Conclusion Conducting the cutting propagation on tea plants in summer, rather than in autumn as does the conventional practice, with a pretreatment of VitaCat® and a rooting powder on the short stems significantly improved the seedling survival and exit-nursery rates. The saving of 5 to 6 months on seedling development would be considerably cost-effective for the plantation operators.
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