The Characteristics of Major Tea Cultivars for Green Tea (Part 4)

1 The growth of shoots of main tea cultivars was investigated after the 1st pruning in the 3rd year after planting in southern Kyushu.<BR>2 The materials and the methods used in this experiment were as follows.<BR>(1) Place and plot design<BR>These were the same as in the previous paper (Part I).<BR>(2) Investigated items and methods<BR>1) After the 1st pruning at the end of March 1989, the following 4 items were observed on the pruned surface ; spread of plants, number of branches of each plant, number of branches in a 20 cm square on the pruned surface and cross-sectional diameters of branches and their variation.<BR>2) After the 1st pruning the number of shoots was counted at the following 3 times ; middle of May (Number of new shoots was counted), beginning of July (Number of the 2nd pruning was counted), and beginning of September.<BR>3) At the beginning of September, only good shoots (over 15 cm lenght) were investigated on the following 2 items ; total number of shoots of each plant, and partial numbers of shoots in 3 parts of each plant (lower part : 0-15 cm height, middle part : 15-20 cm height, upper par : 20-25 cm height).<BR>4) At the end of October, the growth of plants was investigated on the following 2 items ; height of plants and spread of plants><BR>3 The results are summarized as follows.<BR>(1) Observations on the pruned surface at the end of March.<BR>1) Spread of plants. Test 1 ; The spreads of 'Yutakamidori' and 'Kanayamidori' were larger than those of the other 3 cultivars, and significant varietal differences were recognized between them with 99.0-99.9% confidence. On the contrary, the spread of 'Asatsuyu' was the smallest of all.<BR>Test 2 ; The spread of 'Sayamakaori' was larger than those of the other 8 cultivars (with 99.0- 99.9% confidence), while the spreads of 'Samidori', 'Komakage' and 'Asahi' etc. were smaller than those of the other cultivars.<BR>2) Number of branches of each plant.<BR>Tes 1 ; Only the number of branches of 'Kanayamidori' was larger than those of the other 4 cultivars, and significant varietal differences were recognized between them with 99.0-99.9% confidence, while the value of 'Asatsuyu' was small as a whole.<BR>Test 2 ; The numbers of branches of 'Yabukita', 'Okumidori' and 'Sayamakaori' etc. were large comparatively, and no significant varietal differences were recognized between them. On the contrary, the values of 'Komakage' and 'Samidori' were smaller than those of the other cultivars, and significant varietal differences were recognized between them.<BR>3) Correlation between the number of branches of each plants and the number of branches to a 20 cm square.<BR>A significant coefficient correlation (r=0.97-0.99) was recognized between the number of branches of each plant and the number of branches to a 20 cm square.<BR>4) Cross-sectional diameters of pruned branches and their variation.<BR>Test 1 ; The cross-sectional diameters of pruned branches of 'Yutakamidori' were larger than those of the other 4 cultivars, "and significant varietal differences were recognized between them with 99.0-99.9% confidence. On the contrary, the values of 'Asatsuyu' were smaller than those of 'Toyoka' and 'Yabukita' with 95% confidence.<BR>Test 2 ; Only 'Sayamakaori', of which cross-sectional diameters of pruned branches were larger than those of all other cultivars (with 99.9% confidence), while the values of 'Goko' and 'Ujihikari' were small as a whole.<BR>Cofficients of variation in 'Yutakamidori' and 'Asatsuyu' which showed the largest and the smallest values in Test 1 respectively, were less than those of the other 3 cultivars.<BR>(2) Changes of number of shoots from the middle of May to the beginning of September.<BR>Test 1 ; The numbers of shoots of all cultivars increased from the beginning of July to the beginning of September. The value of 'Kanayamidori' was the largest of all, while that of 'Asatsuyu'was the smallest throuthout the period.