The Effect of Plucking on Dry Matter Production and Partitioning in Young Clonal Tea Plants Camellia Sinensis L.).

Abstract

A commercial tea plant is pruned frequently and plucked regularly. Hand plucking in Kenya involves the removal of a shoot containing the terminal bud with the next two young leaves. This operation is done after every 7-14 days depending on the environmental conditions such as temperature and moisture supply. Magambo and Waithaka (1985) reported that clonal differences in dry matter (DM) production were partly due to the way it was partitioned to various tea plant parts. The increase in DM production in different plant parts follow allometrric lines (Brouwer, 1962; Ledig, 1969 and Vissdr, 1969); that is, under any given set of environmental conditions there is a characteristic partitioning of assimilates between plant parts (Ledig and Perry, 1965; Ledig, 1969; Visser, 1969 and Promnitiz, 1975. When such partitioning of assimilates is disturbed, for instance by branch pruning or shoot plucking, the plant tries to restore the required proportions of the disturbed parts. Hence, the tea plant is theoretically in constant adjustment after plucking in an attempt to restore the removed parts to the required proportions. It is probable that differences in yield among tea clones might be due to how these clones respond to such physical manipulations.