<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Supplying artificial light is widely used in crop cultivation to improve yield and quality. In this study, we investigated the effects of a weak supply of light (WSL) on the growth and quality components of tea plants. Starting from mid-winter (20 January 2021), the purple tea (<italic>Camellia sinensis</italic>) cultivar ‘Ziyan’ was exposed to four different spectra at an intensity of 2 μmol · m−2 · s−1 or 5 μmol · m−2 · s−1 for 3 h or 5 h after sunset. The field observations showed that the sprouting index, which represents the time and speed of bud flush, was significantly higher in most of the WSL treatments than in the control (CK, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01). The total content of catechin in the harvested leaves of 3 WSL treatments was 11.51%–18.94% higher than that of the CK, but the content of anthocyanin of 4 WSL treatments unexpectedly decreased by 6.77%–11.69% (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). The differences in yield, free amino acids and caffeine contents between the WSL treatments and CK were not significant. We concluded that the WSL treatments during the early spring night had positive impacts on the growth and some quality components of tea plants.
</abstract>

Supplying artificial light is widely used in crop cultivation to improve yield and quality. In this study, we investigated the effects of a weak supply of light (WSL) on the growth and quality components of tea plants. Starting from mid-winter (20 January 2021), the purple tea (Camellia sinensis) cultivar ‘Ziyan’ was exposed to four different spectra at an intensity of 2 μmol · m−2 · s−1 or 5 μmol · m−2 · s−1 for 3 h or 5 h after sunset. The field observations showed that the sprouting index, which represents the time and speed of bud flush, was significantly higher in most of the WSL treatments than in the control (CK, p < 0.01). The total content of catechin in the harvested leaves of 3 WSL treatments was 11.51%–18.94% higher than that of the CK, but the content of anthocyanin of 4 WSL treatments unexpectedly decreased by 6.77%–11.69% (p < 0.05). The differences in yield, free amino acids and caffeine contents between the WSL treatments and CK were not significant. We concluded that the WSL treatments during the early spring night had positive impacts on the growth and some quality components of tea plants.

Effects of a weak supply of light at night on the growth and quality components of tea plants

Tea Refining and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province

Folia Horticulturae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Supplying artificial light is widely used in crop cultivation to improve yield and quality. In this study, we investigated the effects of a weak supply of...

Effects of a weak supply of light at night on the growth and quality components of tea plants

Article Category: Original Article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2022

Page range: 263 - 269

Received: Aug 04, 2022

Accepted: Dec 02, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fhort-2022-0020

Keywords
anthocyanin, catechin, weak supply of light

© 2022 Qin-Ling Liu et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Effects of a weak supply of light at night on the growth and quality components of tea plants

Article Category: Original Article

Published Online: Dec 31, 2022

Page range: 263 - 269

Received: Aug 04, 2022

Accepted: Dec 02, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fhort-2022-0020

Keywordsanthocyanin, catechin, weak supply of light

© 2022 Qin-Ling Liu et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
anthocyanin, catechin, weak supply of light