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. 2012:2012:485193.
doi: 10.1100/2012/485193. Epub 2012 Feb 14.

Diversity of catechin in northeast Indian tea cultivars

Santanu Sabhapondit  1 , Tanmoy Karak, Lakshi Prasad Bhuyan, Bhabesh Chandra Goswami, Mridul Hazarika
Affiliations

Diversity of catechin in northeast Indian tea cultivars

Santanu Sabhapondit et al. ScientificWorldJournal. 2012.

Abstract

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) leaf contains a large amount of catechins (a group of very active flavonoids) which contribute to major quality attributes of black tea. Based on morphological characters tea plants were classified as Assam, China, and Cambod varieties. The present study is an attempt for biochemical fingerprinting of the tea varieties based on catechin composition in green leaf of cultivars grown in Northeast India. Assam variety cultivars contained the highest level of catechins followed by Cambod and China. The average catechin contents were 231 ± 7 mg g(-1), 202 ± 5 mg g(-1), and 157 ± 4 mg g(-1) of dry weight of green leaf for Assam, Cambod, and China cultivars, respectively. Among the individual catechins the variations in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epigallocatechin (EGC) were the most prominent among the varieties. High EGC content was found to be a characteristic of Assam variety which was further corroborated through multivariate analysis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The typical shoots of three varieties (note that the photographs were taken from the herbarium of Tocklai Experimental Station).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Map showing major tea growing areas of Northeast India.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Dendrogram for cluster analysis. The dissimilarity defined by Euclidean distance and the combination of clusters is based on Ward method. (a) Assam, (b) Cambod, and (c) China tea (*CATRAT: catechin ratio; #ECECG: dihydroxy catechin; **EGCEGCG: trihydroxy catechin, and ***CAT: total catechin).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Factor loading pattern of the analyzed variables of the three varieties obtained by PCA followed by Varimax rotation. (a) Assam, (b) Cambod, and (c) China tea (note that in these figures “C” indicates “+C”).
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