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. 2023 Jun 30;12(13):2508.
doi: 10.3390/plants12132508.

Internode Length Is Correlated with GA3 Content and Is Crucial to the Harvesting Performance of Tea-Picking Machines

Yao Luo  1 , Qianqian Yu  1 , Yinghua Xie  1 , Chaojie Xu  1 , Letian Cheng  1 , Qing Shi  1 , Yeyun Li  1 , Xianchen Zhang  1 , Zhougao Shen  1
Affiliations

Internode Length Is Correlated with GA3 Content and Is Crucial to the Harvesting Performance of Tea-Picking Machines

Yao Luo et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

High labor costs and labor shortages are limiting factors affecting the tea industry in Anhui Province. Thus, exploiting the full mechanization of shoot harvesting is an urgent task in the tea industry. Tea quality is greatly influenced by the integrity rate of tea leaves; therefore, it is important to choose tea cultivars suitable for machine picking. In this study, seven tea cultivars were used to investigate the relationship between internode length and blade angle with respect to newly formed tea shoots and machine harvesting in field experiments (Xuanchen City, Kuiling village) conducted throughout the year (in the autumn of 2021, in the early spring of 2022, and in the summer of 2022). Our results showed that the internode length (L2 or L4) had a significant and positive correlation with the integrity rate of tea buds and leaves in seven tea cultivars over three seasons. However, no significant correlation was found between the blade angle and the integrity rate of tea buds and leaves. In addition, a strong and positive correlation was found between the levels of GA1 (R2 > 0.7), GA3 (R2 > 0.85), and IAA (R2 > 0.6) regarding the internodes and internode lengths of the seven tea cultivars. Moreover, the relative expression levels of CsGA20ox, CsGA3ox1, and CsGA3ox2 in Echa1 (the longer internode) were significantly higher compared with those in Zhenong113 (the shorter internode). Overall, our results show that the internode length is an important factor for the machine harvesting of tea leaves and that the level of GA3 is strongly associated with internode length.

Keywords: GAs; internode length; machine picking; tea.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Seven tea plant cultivars analyzed in the field experiments.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The internode lengths and blade angles of tea plants. Note: L1, L2, L3 and L4 were internode lengths; β1 and β2 indicated blade angles.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The parts of tea in the samples. Machine picking and the different parts of the samples shown in (A,B), respectively. Notes: a–i indicate the following: one bud and one leaf, one bud and two leaves, one bud and three leaves, one bud, old stem, non-standard bud leaves, damaged new leaves, damaged old leaves, and others, respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The relationship between bud and leaf integrity following machine picking and internode length or blade angle for the seven tea cultivars. Notes: M and N indicate the standard rate of buds and leaves and the intact rate of buds and leaves, and the data in the heat map indicate the correlation coefficient between M or N and the internode length or blade angle of the seven tea cultivars in 2021 autumn (A), 2022 spring (B) and 2022 summer (C). β1 and β2 indicated that blade angle and * indicated that significant differences at the level of p < 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The relationship between internode length (L2) and hormones in internodes.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The expression levels of CsGA20ox, CsGA3ox1, and CsGA3ox2 in the two cultivars. Note: *, ** indicated that significant differences at the level of p < 0.05.
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